Transcript Slide 1

Prepared by
Eman A. Al Abdullah
Eman Al Abdullah 2007
Six hats of thinking : a way of helping us
to think more effectively about problems and
situations.
Not real hats, but idea invented by Edward De Bono,
expert on management and psychology.
De Bono noticed that meetings often waste time with
arguments:
people take a certain opinion or position, and defend
them to the death.
Others criticize and discussion goes nowhere.
E.g. someone suggests a new idea, and others say
it’s impossible.
Eman Al Abdullah 2007 ©
The 6 hats = way of making discussions more constructive
and useful.
In a normal meeting, if someone doesn’t support an idea it is
easy for them not to look for positive sides - 6 hats technique
challenges participants to see all sides.
Some people see the negative side of everything;
the 6 hats technique offers them the opportunity to think like
this, but challenges them to think in other ways as well.
The six hats represent six modes of thinking and are
directions to think rather than labels for thinking .
Eman Al Abdullah 2007 ©
Eman Al Abdullah 2007
©
While wearing the white hat we
ignore arguments and proposals :
We examine the facts , figures and
information that we have
We identify:
what information we don’t have ,
and how we might get it .
* “I think we need a white hat thinking at this point … “
Means : Let’s drop the arguments and
proposals , and look at the data base .
Eman Al Abdullah 2007 ©
What questions can we ask
while wearing the white hat ?
* What information do we have here ?
* What information is missing ?
* What information would we like to have ?
* How are we going to get the information ?
Eman Al Abdullah 2007 ©
This is the hat of
creativity , alternatives and proposals .
It develops creative solutions to a problem .
It is a free wheeling way of thinking .
Give us time to create new ideas without criticizing .
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What questions can we ask
while wearing the green hat ?
* Are there any alternatives
which we haven’t thought about ?
* Could we do this in a different way ?
* Could there be another explanation ?
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The yellow hat helps you to think positively .
It helps you to keep going when
everything looks gloomy and difficult .
This is the logical positive .
Why something will work and why it will offer benefits .
Look for benefits in what we have achieved ,
or possible benefits in what we are planning
– but they must be based on logic .
Eman Al Abdullah 2007 ©
What can we say while
wearing the yellow hat ?
* That might work if we
changed the arrangements of the desks .
* If we are to pay for each and every
destroyed thing in the classroom,
everyone would be more careful .
Eman Al Abdullah 2007 ©
When you wear the black hat
you look at all the bad points of the decision.
Look at it cautiously and defensively .
The black hat is the most used one,
and perhaps the most valuable one,
because mistakes can be disastrous .
At the same time , it is very easy to overuse the black hat:
It is easy to kill creative ideas by being negative too early.
Black hat must always be logical ( must explain why )
Eman Al Abdullah 2007 ©
What can we say while wearing the black hat ?
* The regulations do not allow us to do that .
* We do not have enough teachers to do that .
* When we tried harder exams
pupils failed to pass them .
* This teacher has no experience in the field .
Eman Al Abdullah 2007 ©
The red hat gives full permission to a thinker
to put forward his or her feelings on the subject at the moment .
Try to think how other people will react emotionally .
Try to understand the responses of people
who do not fully know your reasoning .
Red hat thinking lets people put forward their
feelings
without the need to apologize, explain them or
try
to justify them !
Eman Al Abdullah 2007 ©
What can we say while wearing the red hat ?
* This is what I feel about the test .
* My feeling is that it will not work .
* I don’t like the way this is being done .
* My intuition tells me that pupils will not like it .
Eman Al Abdullah 2007 ©
The blue hat is the thinking overview or
process control hat .
It looks not at the subject itself but at
the thinking about the subject.
It is suggesting next step for thinking .
Asking for summaries , conclusions and decisions .
Eman Al Abdullah 2007 ©
What can we say while wearing the blue hat ?
* We have spent far
too much time looking for someone to blame
* Could we have a summary of your views ?
* I think we should take a look at the priorities .
* I suggest we try some green hat thinking
to get some new ideas .
Eman Al Abdullah 2007 ©
Some times it is possible to put together a sequence of hats
that will help us
to think productively about a particular question or issue .
The actual order will depend on the situation , but might be :
For a new problem :
White – to get information .
Green – for ideas and proposals .
For each alternative:
Yellow followed by black –
to evaluate alternatives .
Red – To assess feelings at this point .
Blue – to decide what thinking to do next .
Eman Al Abdullah 2007 ©
We can use the Six Hats of
Thinking in almost any problem
solving activity
that you might encounter in the
classroom
( or in life in general ! )
Students talking while others are talking or teaching .
State the facts .
- Students are talking when the teacher is talking .
- There is noise that others are distracted or can’t hear .
- Students don’t know what to do after the teacher has given
directions.
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State the emotions .
- The teacher feels offended.
- Students are frustrated because they can’t hear directions .
Negative aspects .
- Time is wasted .
- Chaos in the classroom .
Positives of the situation are examined .
- Everyone gets to say what is in their mind .
- It can be fun .
- Not just the “ smart “ kids get to speak.
Eman Al Abdullah 2007 ©
Creative ideas that come
with seeing the problem in a new light .
-The teacher will be more aware
of the amount of time that she/ he “ talks “ .
- Students will think about whether their comment
will interfere with other people’s learning.
Sum up what is learned.
- The teacher needs to involve all students in discussion.
- The teacher needs to realize that some students need “ think
time “
before they are ready to contribute to a discussion.
-Students now realize that when they talk when others are
talking
it makes the person talking feel like a fool or unappreciated.
Eman Al Abdullah 2007 ©
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
.
Eman Al Abdullah 2007
Eman Al Abdullah 2007
Eman Al Abdullah 2007 ©
Eman Al Abdullah 2007 ©