dysTalk Developing Thinking Strategies De Bonos Six Hats - Talks - dysTalk

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About this talk: Kim Wells speaks on de Bono thinking strategies. These help children to structure their thoughts; plan and write essays; see all sides of the argument, develop parallel thinking and think creatively. The Six Hats are simple and yet very powerful to use. They apply to all ages and across the ability range.

About the speaker: Kim is Director of Learning and Teaching at Caterham School, the first Independent School in the UK to be awarded Edward De Bono Thinking School status. Kim is a de Bono Master Trainer in Education, one of only three in the country.

Talk Topics - General Advice / Other

Further information about this Talk

Key Points Covered in This Talk:

• Intelligence: Intelligence is innate, measured by an IQ, which you are born with. It is very difficult to improve your raw intelligence. However, ways of thinking can be taught and can be improved to make the most of the natural intelligence you are given. If you take a child who by cognitive measures isn't very intelligent but they are a fantastic thinker, that child will outperform the child who has a "big brain" but doesn't know how to use it.
• Modern Western thinking is all based around argument. The trouble with argument is that it very often descends into tit for tat, your standpoint against my standpoint. We do not look at a problem from all angles. The Six Hats ensure that thinking is separated out and everybody thinks in the same way at the same time.
• Why Hats?: People often associate hats with thinking (e.g. put your thinking hats on). Children find the hats fantastically tangible. We also tend to associate hats with roles.
• What are the hats?:
  1. White Hat: This is the information hat. Like a blank piece of paper you try and get as many facts, data, statistics. It includes what you know about a problem and also what you would like to know about a problem. It is a call for information as well as an opportunity to get down the information already available.
  2. Red Hat: This is the emotional hat. Therefore when you "put on" the red hat you think in an emotional way and say how you feel about a problem and give your gut reaction. You do not have to justify why.
  3. Black Hats: Yellow is for logical positives and the black hat is the counterbalance.
  4. Black Hats: The black hat is about caution - considering why something might be a problem and what downsides there might be.
  5. Green Hat: This is the creative "think outside the box hat". With the green hat alternative possibilities should be considered.
  6. Blue Hat: The decision making hat. Often people think of this as blue sky or the overview of the whole process. You use this hat at the end. It might be a conclusion or suggested next steps.