Six+Thinking+Hats





http://www.kurwongbss.qld.edu.au/thinking/Hats/Planning%20to%20use%20The%20Six%20Hats%20matrix%20for%20teachers.doc

Lesson Plan http://www.teachnet.com/how-to/manage/sixhats120800.html

http://www.lpg.fsu.edu/charting/InstructionalStrategies/howto-tactics/ht-k5ahats.asp#ActTwo

How to Use the Tool:
To use Six Thinking Hats to improve the quality of your decision-making, look at the decision 'wearing' each of the thinking hats in turn. Each 'Thinking Hat' is a different style of thinking. These are explained below: > With this thinking hat, you focus on the data available. Look at the information you have, and see what you can learn from it. Look for gaps in your knowledge, and either try to fill them or take account of them. > > This is where you analyze past trends, and try to extrapolate from historical data. > 'Wearing' the red hat, you look at the decision using intuition, gut reaction, and emotion. Also try to think how other people will react emotionally, and try to understand the intuitive responses of people who do not fully know your reasoning. > When using black hat thinking, look at things pessimistically, cautiously and defensively. Try to see why ideas and approaches might not work. This is important because it highlights the weak points in a plan or course of action. It allows you to eliminate them, alter your approach, or prepare contingency plans to counter problems that arise. Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans 'tougher' and more resilient. It can also help you to spot fatal flaws and risks before you embark on a course of action. Black Hat thinking is one of the real benefits of this technique, as many successful people get so used to thinking positively that often they cannot see problems in advance, leaving them under-prepared for difficulties. > The yellow hat helps you to think positively. It is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you to see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it, and spot the opportunities that arise from it. Yellow Hat thinking helps you to keep going when everything looks gloomy and difficult. > The Green Hat stands for creativity. This is where you can develop creative solutions to a problem. It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas. A whole range of [|creativity tools] can help you here. > The Blue Hat stands for process control. This is the hat worn by people chairing meetings. When running into difficulties because ideas are running dry, they may direct activity into Green Hat thinking. When contingency plans are needed, they will ask for Black Hat thinking, and so on. You can use Six Thinking Hats in meetings or on your own. In meetings it has the benefit of defusing the disagreements that can happen when people with different thinking styles discuss the same problem.
 * ** White Hat: **
 * **Red Hat:**
 * **Black Hat:**
 * **Yellow Hat:**
 * **Green Hat:**
 * **Blue Hat:**

A variant of this technique is to look at problems from the point of view of different professionals (e.g. doctors, architects, sales directors) or different customers.

Example:
The directors of a property company are looking at whether they should construct a new office building. The economy is doing well, and the amount of vacant office space is reducing sharply. As part of their decision they decide to use the 6 Thinking Hats technique during a planning meeting. Looking at the problem with the **White Hat**, they analyze the data they have. They examine the trend in vacant office space, which shows a sharp reduction. They anticipate that by the time the office block would be completed, that there will be a severe shortage of office space. Current government projections show steady economic growth for at least the construction period. With **Red Hat** thinking, some of the directors think the proposed building looks quite ugly. While it would be highly cost-effective, they worry that people would not like to work in it. When they think with the **Black Hat**, they worry that government projections may be wrong. The economy may be about to enter a 'cyclical downturn', in which case the office building may be empty for a long time. If the building is not attractive, then companies will choose to work in another better-looking building at the same rent. With the **Yellow Hat**, however, if the economy holds up and their projections are correct, the company stands to make a great deal of money. If they are lucky, maybe they could sell the building before the next downturn, or rent to tenants on long-term leases that will last through any recession. With **Green Hat** thinking they consider whether they should change the design to make the building more pleasant. Perhaps they could build prestige offices that people would want to rent in any economic climate. Alternatively, maybe they should invest the money in the short term to buy up property at a low cost when a recession comes. The **Blue Hat** has been used by the meeting's Chair to move between the different thinking styles. He or she may have needed to keep other members of the team from switching styles, or from criticizing other peoples' points. It is well worth reading Edward de Bono's book [|6 Thinking Hats] for more information on this technique.

Key points:
Six Thinking Hats is a good technique for looking at the effects of a decision from a number of different points of view. It allows necessary emotion and skepticism to be brought into what would otherwise be purely rational decisions. It opens up the opportunity for creativity within Decision Making. The technique also helps, for example, persistently pessimistic people to be positive and creative. Plans developed using the '6 Thinking Hats' technique will be sounder and more resilient than would otherwise be the case. It may also help you to avoid public relations mistakes, and spot good reasons not to follow a course of action, before you have committed to it.

White Hat on the Hats
There are six metaphorical hats and the thinker can put on or take off one of these hats to indicate the type of thinking being used. This putting on and taking off is essential. The hats must never be used to categorize individuals, even though their behavior may seem to invite this. When done in group, everybody wear the same hat at the same time. **White Hat thinking** This covers facts, figures, information needs and gaps. "I think we need some white hat thinking at this point..." means Let's drop the arguments and proposals, and look at the data base." **Red Hat thinking** This covers intuition, feelings and emotions. The red hat allows the thinker to put forward an intuition without any ned to justify it. "Putting on my red hat, I think this is a terrible proposal." Ususally feelings and intuition can only be introduced into a discussion if they are supported by logic. Usually the feeling is genuine but the logic is spurious.The red hat gives full permission to a thinker to put forward his or her feelings on the subject at the moment. **Black Hat thinking** This is the hat of judgment and caution. It is a most valuable hat. It is not in any sense an inferior or negative hat. The rior or negative hat. The black hat is used to point out why a suggestion does not fit the facts, the available experience, the system in use, or the policy that is being followed. The black hat must always be logical. **Yellow Hat thinking** This is the logical positive. Why something will work and why it will offer benefits. It can be used in looking forward to the results of some proposed action, but can also be used to find something of value in what has already happened. **Green Hat thinking** This is the hat of creativity, alternatives, proposals, what is interesting, provocations and changes. **Blue Hat thinking** This is the overview or process control hat. It looks not at the subject itself but at the 'thinking' about the subject. "Putting on my blue hat, I feel we should do some more green hat thinking at this point." In technical terms, the blue hat is concerned with meta-cognition.

You can use the Six Thinking Hats in almost any problem solving activity that you might encounter in the classroom (or in life in general!) Here is an example of a problem solving exercise that I went through with my students two years ago. Its a problem that many teachers will be able to relate to. What I've written below actally came out of the Six Hats problem solving process. The "Problemtunity" that we examined was: w //Students Talking While Others Are Talking Or Teaching// Using the Six Hats allowed my class to look at the problem from different angles. Use 6 pieces of chart paper (and the 6 different colors of felt pens) as you apply each hat. > - students are talking when Mrs Dyck is talking > - there is noise so that others are distracted or can't hear > - students don't know what to do after Mrs Dyck has given directions > - many students get silly or off task > - Mrs Dyck feels offended > - Students are frustrated because they can't hear directions > - Those talking enjoy joking around and being heard > - time is wasted > - learning is compromised > - those who legitamently have the floor feel that listeners don't care about what they are saying > - chaos in the classroom > - everyone gets to say what is on their mind > - it can be fun > - you don't have to wait until you speak and therefore don't forget what you what to say > - not just the "smart" kids get to speak > - Mrs Dyck will be more aware of the amount of time that she "talks" > - Mrs Dyck will try to include interaction from many different students, not just the "smart" kids > - students will work on resisting the need to say everything that comes into their mind. They will ask themselves if this is "on topic" and"if this needs to be shared at this time. There needed to be further discussion on "how" students would work on this problem. > - students will think about whether their comment will interfer with other people's learning > - we will keep these charts up so that we can refer back to the learning of this moment and reassess how we are doing. > - Mrs Dyck learned that she needs to limit the amount of time she uses "Talking" as a form of teaching > - Mrs Dyck needs to involve all students in discussion. She needs to look for the one who rarely offers comments or is quietly waiting to be picked to answer. > - Mrs Dyck needs to realize that some students need "think time" before they are ready to contribute to a discussion. Allowing time for these students to think is important part of class discussion so they don't tune out. > - students now realize that when they talk when others are talking it makes the person talking feel like a fool or unappreciated. > - students realize that just to "get the laugh" of the moment, they are jeopardizing other people's learning > - students learned that speaking whenever you want show a lack of self-discipline and that not everything that goes through our minds is worth sharing. > - teacher/student needs to revisit this topic and check how we are doing > When I did this exercise with my students I fully expected the process to show that "they" were at fault in this situation. It was humbling to hear them share that they sometimes called out because I didn't choose them to share their ideas or that I moved so fast they didn't get a chance to think. Students were blown away when I shared what I felt like when I had planned a long time for a particular lesson and then one silly comment "threw water" on my lesson- ruined it because the class got silly.They never viewed it as offending me and because we had a good relationship they were anxious to work on this problem. Because I cared about them I was willing to take some responsibilty for the problem as well. Student/Teacher ownership added to the power of this exercise. Some teachers may say this process takes too long. It would be better to "read the riot act" and move on. I have to say that it saved me piles of time in the long run. My class and I went through this process in November. Not only did their behavior improve but during the times they slipped, I would say "Remember the Six Hats...." and they go "Oh, yah..." and they'd click into the strategies that we established during the "Green/Blue" hat time. You have to realize that doing this exercise with students isn't stopping students from learning- it IS the learning. My staff has used the Six Hats in staff meetings to problem solve. Really all it is is getting all viewpoints out on the table. I hope this explanation gives teachers a glimpse of how they might use it in their classroom. CONTRIBUTOR: Brenda Dyck, Master's Academy and College, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
 * 1) White Hat: state the facts
 * 1) Red Hat: states the emotions
 * 1) Black Hat: negative aspects
 * 1) Yellow Hat: positives of the situation are examined
 * 1) Green Hat: creative ideas that come with seeing the problem in a new light
 * 1) Blue Hat: Sum up what is learned