Metacognition: a big word and a powerful idea. People of all ages, from primary students to corporate CEOs, benefit from learning how to THINK about their own THINKING.
Way back in the 1960s, Edward de Bono introduced lateral thinking and created strategies that enable people of all ages to intentionally think in organized ways in order to problem solve, create, and innovate. His thinking tools and creativity techniques have been implemented by Apple, Microsoft, The New York Times, Canon and countless Fortune 500 companies. Thankfully, he developed materials for teachers to use in their classrooms as well!
SIX-HAT THINKING was designed for students ages 7 and up, so I introduced it to my G/T first and second graders. I’ve created an introductory slide show ready to share with students. You can also make your own copy here.
Here are the basic steps I followed in my first lesson:
- Elicit from students what it means to “put on your thinking cap.”
- Explain that there are strategies and tools we can use that actually help us be better thinkers, and “Six-Hat Thinking” is one. Ask students why it might be called that.
- Explain that it involves six different ways of thinking about something, but the key is to think in only ONE way at a time. Tell students that it’s a little tricky for our brains to do this, but it’s worth practicing because it helps us think of new ideas, things that might not occur to us unless we use all six thinking hats.
- Using real colored hats if possible, “put on” and discuss each colored hat. Here is a page that explains the type of thinking with each hat.
Six-Hat Thinking is a great technique to use in decision-making, so I usually chose a decision-making task as the first lesson, such as the one in the video below. Please forgive the quality of this older video; I only share it because it helps to see the kinds of responses students come up with! In this lesson, it was a center activity and I told the class to think not only about their own ideas but also what adults might think. Thinking like their parents, teachers, or principals relates to the MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES icon of Depth and Complexity, also useful for working with advanced students.
Once my students learned the method of using six different hats for thinking, I incorporated it in many ways, such as in this literature lesson, Six-Hat Thinking and Cinderella. I hope to offer additional Six-Hat lessons in the near future, and I will offer them at no charge since I don’t want to infringe on copyright.
On a personal note, I’ve seriously used Six-Hat Thinking in my own life! Once, when I was offered a new position, I used this strategy to help me think it through. It is MUCH more thorough than just listing the “pros and cons” of an idea. Try it the next time you have a big decision to make! You can read more in DeBono’s book, Six Thinking Hats (affiliate link).
Do you have ideas for incorporating Six-Hat Thinking in the classroom? Please share so that we can all benefit!
I teach 5th grade, and we use 6 Hats during whole class and small group discussions. Most of the time I give the students the opportunity to prep their ideas for all 6 hats prior to our discussion, so that they are prepared. I have small groups discuss in two different formats, depending on the topic.
One format is everyone takes on the same hat perspective for a given amont of time and then switch hats as group.
Another format is that I assign each student in the small group a different color hat, and the group discusses with each student acting in their given persepective. Students rotate hat colors a few times throughout the discussion time. This really challenges them as they have to stay in “character/perspective” even if it’s not how they typically think. Students also insist on wearing physical “hats” of their given perspective, so I made headbands out of construction paper 😉
Kim, I love that you are using Six-Hat Thinking for dialogue and discussion! It’s great that you have them prepare their ideas before sharing. Sometimes I would have students share their ideas and the rest of the class would guess which hat they were “wearing.” To me, this kind of “forced perspective” correlates well with the MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES icon of Depth and Complexity.
THANK YOU for sharing!