de Bono's Thinking Hats

At Cook we believe that thinking is a skill that can be taught.

One framework for children to scaffold their thinking is de Bono's Six Thinking Hats

BLUE HAT (Organisation of Thinking)

Thinking about thinking. What have we done so far? What do we do next?

GREEN HAT (Creativity)

Different ideas. New Ideas. Suggestions and proposals. What are some possible ways to work this out? What are some other ways to solve the problem.

RED HAT (Emotions)

Intuition, feelings and hunches. No need to justify the feelings. How do I feel about this right now?

YELLOW HAT (Good Points)

Why is this worth doing? How will it help us? Why can it be done? Why will it work?

BLACK HAT (Bad Points)

Caution. Judgement. Assessment. Is this true? Will it work? What are the weaknesses? What is wrong with it?

WHITE HAT (Information)

Questions. What information do we have? What information do we need to get?

The children can use this strategy in English, for example, to write a speech. They can pick a topic and ask six questions of themselves....the answers comprising the skeleton of the speech.

For more information, go and visit Edward de Bono's site.