|
Develop Critical and Creative Thinking Skills: Put on Six Thinking Hats®
McAleer, F. F. Pennsylvania Educational Leadership (a publication of the
Pennsylvania Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development,
PASCD). Fall, 2006.
Franny F. McAleer
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
“PUT ON YOUR THINKING HAT!” conveys the idea that thinking improves when
a THINKING HAT is worn. While Dr. Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy has been the
mainstay in higher level thinking, Dr. Edward deBono reinvented the
traditional cap in Six Thinking Hats®. He combines the hat metaphor with
six colors to create a powerful thinking strategy. Psychology Today
commented on Six Hats® claiming, “We owe DeBono a debt for constantly
reminding us that thinking is a skill and can be improved.” When we put
on our thinking hats, we have not one, but six.
Thinking is the foundation for listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Teachers have developed classrooms that are alive with critical and
creative thinking depicted by the image of Six Hats®.
SIX THINKING HATS®
Six Thinking Hats® is an internationally recognized tool to teach
thinking in all content areas. SIX HATS® enables us to SEE OUR THINKING,
focus, change, and improve it. Each colored hat represents a different
mode of thinking. When teachers and administrators analyze questioning
strategies in the classroom, many recognize that few require wait time.
Six Hats® questions demand wait time and present opportunities for
wonder and thought. A community of dynamic, sophisticated thinkers
emerges as the HATS integrate content, transforming classrooms as they
did in this school.
“The teachers and students were captivated and involved with the Six
Hats®. The students were eager and focused something the students and
teachers will remember and use throughout their educational years.”
Teresa Davis, Coordinator of Gifted Services, Peoria Unified School
District, Phoenix, AZ
The impact of Six Hats® and stories from teachers and educational
leaders who use them will be the focus of this journal article.
THE THINKING BEHIND THE SIX HATS® WITH CONNECTIONS TO BLOOM’S TAXONOMY
The Six Hats® are described in this section and provide a basis for
learning and applying them to your curriculum. As you read the
descriptors, think of questions and student tasks connecting your
content with the HATS processes. To add depth the HATS are applied on
four dimensions, the (1) text (2) student’s life, (3) community and (4)
world.
 |
The WHITE HAT®
|
FACTS, INFORMATION, DATA, RESEARCH NEEDED. (Bloom’s KNOWLEDGE)
What are the facts about … What do you need or want to know about …
 |
The RED HAT®
|
FEELINGS, HUNCHES, EMOTIONS, INTUITION. (Bloom’s EVALUATION)
What are your feelings about ___? What prejudices exist? What is your
gut feeling about ... What does your intuition tell you?
 |
The BLACK HAT®
|
CAUTION, RISKS, JUDGMENT. (Bloom’s ANALYSIS and EVALUATION)
What should you be cautious of … What are the consequences of… What
words of wisdom might come from this? What were the difficulties of...
What did you dislike about... What are the risks of …
 |
The YELLOW HAT®
|
BENEFITS, GOOD, VALUE, STRENGTHS. (Bloom’s ANALYSIS and EVALUATION)
What are the benefits of … What is good about … What is the value of...
What did you like about…
 |
The GREEN HAT®
|
CREATIVITY, NEW IDEAS, BRAINSTORMING, PREDICTING, (Bloom’s SYNTHESIS)
What if ...? Can you create other ways? How would you solve the problem?
What other possibilities are there for ... ?
 |
The BLUE HAT®
|
THINKING ABOUT THINKING, METACOGNITION, SUMMARIZING, (Bloom’s
COMPREHENSION AND APPLICATION)
Explain how you got your answer. Tell the order of events in your
reading. Paraphrase. Conclusions. Summarize. What is the big idea, main
idea? You will be learning __?_ .
SIX HATS® - BENEFITS, CAUTIONS
Benefits--
- The colors and hats provide a visual image that is easy to learn,
remember and use.
- Thinking is visible, focused, in depth, and at higher levels of
critical and creative thinking.
- The strategy is can be used on a simple, concrete level or abstract,
sophisticated level.
- Listening, speaking, reading and writing improve with a strategy for
focus.
- Interdisciplinary connections integrate the curriculum.
- Problem solving, decision making, leadership and independence are
developed.
- Students ask quality questions.
- Student led discussions and projects are focused and in depth.
- Self-evaluation is systematic.
- Students develop confidence.
- Cooperative groups and teamwork are effective and organized.
Caution --
- The Six Hats® is one approach to teaching thinking, and teachers
should be cautious of excluding others.
READING AND METACOGNITION
A reader's awareness of the thought processes used in reading is
metacognition. The blue hat ensures that the reader is making sense of
the text. In his keynote to the Western Pennsylvania Association for
Curriculum and Supervision in April, 2000, Dr. Roger C. Farr, Senior
Author of Harcourt Language emphasized the importance of metacognition
in improving reading comprehension. He challenged teachers to ask
students to read a paragraph or two, cover the text, and paraphrase.
This blue hat task is simple and produces results.
LITERACY AND SIX HATS®
The process of becoming literate reflects both family and school values.
It is rooted in schema theory. Children use what they already know to
give meaning to new experiences by activating prior knowledge and making
connections to construct meaning. Once a schema for questioning or
thinking is learned, readers are able to elaborate on the material read.
This process engages the reader in a cognitive activity involving
critical and creative thinking, judgment, evaluation, prediction,
metacognition…
Six Hats® provides a literacy tool that helps everyone become
independent, life long learners. In all stages of literacy development
children use Six Hats® when comprehending and composing. The Commission
on Adolescent Literacy, 1999, emphasized the differences between the
needs of beginning and adolescent readers. It presented the importance
of thinking in adolescent literacy. Adolescents require advanced
literacy levels and need to learn to use higher level thinking. They
need to learn strategies to help them question themselves about what
they read. Explicit instruction moves the reader from literal
understandings to higher order thinking that promotes reading
comprehension.
READING COMPREHENSION
The Six Hats® improves reading comprehension and provides readers with a
tool to interact with the author, to have promoted a conversation
between the reader and the author. Cognitive and metacognitive
strategies promote the conversation, so the reader can question the
author.
Nolte and Singer’s “phase-in, phase-out” strategy shifts the
responsibility for asking questions from the teacher to the students.
Teachers show students how to generate questions for a story (Vacca,
290). Six Hats® supports this shift of questioning responsibility. High
school teachers report --
"My Applied Communications class LOVED them. We have had nothing but
success with the HATS. With the HATS the Journalism class is attacking
the school magazine. The Applied class designed an independent novel
unit. My Honors Speech and Debate class implemented a new peer comment
format. My Honors III class is exploring The Red Badge of Courage. After
one day, my Applied students were refocusing a discussion with a green
hat." Renee Sorensen, Teacher at Tunkhannock High School
Increased comprehension and responsiveness is reported by two teachers.
"I found Six Hats® easy to simplify and adapt to the proficiency levels
of my ESL students, and they responded with enthusiasm to the visual and
tactile presentation of the hats. Six Hats® provides a multisensory
learning environment, giving students a greater chance for success.
Karen Lau, ESL Teacher, Luzerne Intermediate Unit, PA
A teacher of autistic students reported, “My students ask to use the
Hats everyday.” Nicole Gamrat, Woodland Hills School District, PA
PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMIC STANDARD (1.1), LEARNING TO READ INDEPENDENTLY
Pennsylvania Academic Standard 1.1, “Learning to Read Independently”,
states that students need to “read text using self-monitoring
comprehension strategies.” Teachers attest to the effectiveness of Six
Hats® as an independent reading tool. The blue hat of metacognition
particularly connects with this standard. In reading metacognition
refers to “self-monitoring – the ability of student to monitor reading
by keeping track of how well they are comprehending” (Vacca, 18). The
reader actively interacts with the text to make sense of it, setting up
a purpose for reading, planning for reading and evaluating the
understandings. A teacher who used the Six Hats® as a self-monitoring
comprehension strategy states,
“I am using the SIX HATS® daily. I refer to them to get the children
thinking in a certain direction. It gives the students a direction to
think towards by the questions on the hats. In the primary grades
especially, the students need to develop specific thinking areas. This
is the first program I have used that starts students in the direction
of thinking critically. They loved the activities especially the green
hat. I use this with PSSA (state assessment) preparation.” Debbie
Miller, Wilkes Barre School District, PA
PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMIC STANDARD (1.4) TYPES OF WRITING
The Pennsylvania Academic writing standards and Six Hats® were the
motivation for a research project conducted by Jacque Goodburn, a
seventh grade English teacher in Burgettstown Area School District in
Pennsylvania. She enjoyed using the Six Hats® but wanted to determine
the effect on the writing achievement of her students. Her research
project included three heterogeneous classes, 60 students, 10 of whom
are learning support. The control group was comprised of three
heterogeneous classes, 63 students, 10 of whom are learning support. The
prompts were PSSA writing assessment released prompts, informational,
narrative, and persuasive. Microsoft Word Tools was used to determine
the writing quality using an objective tool – Flesch-Kincaid
Readability. Although readability formulas cannot capture all aspects of
quality writing, they can be used to evaluate the length of sentences
and the number of syllables in the words used. This data in combination
with teacher observation has given us an objective baseline for the
research.
For the informational and the narrative prompts, the students using the
Six Hats® were writing an average of a half-year ahead of the control
group students. For the persuasive prompt the students using the Six
Hats® were writing almost a year ahead of the control group. Jacque
concluded that the benefits are:
Benefits for the teacher
- Writing process discussions and workshops are consistent.
- Grading is objective.
- Students organize their ideas and see what they are thinking before
writing.
- Students see what is missing and correct their omissions
independently.
- The teacher is an effective facilitator.
Benefits to students
- Students understand what a well-developed piece is.
- Students revise drafts with less teacher intervention.
- Students prewrite and see where detail is needed.
- Students value this life long learning and communication tool.
Benefits to both
- The writing process is focused.
- It is specific and less confrontational.
- Constructive criticism focuses on the Hats rather than addressing the
writer.
EDUCATIONAL LEADERS AND SIX HATS®
Educational leaders find the Six Hats® valuable in two ways: (1) a
meeting facilitation tool and (2) a teacher observation strategy. As a
meeting facilitation tool, the mental wearing and switching hats teams
can separate thinking into six modes for analyzing matters objectively
and comprehensively. When teams separate emotion from fact, the benefits
from the possible problems, the critical from creative thinking, the
results include shorter meetings, thorough assessment of alternatives
before making decisions, better communication and easier problem
resolution. Hidden agendas are uncovered, and objectives are achieved
without fragmented thinking and argument. All sides of an issue are
addressed. The team works together to think clearly, objectively,
systematically and creatively!
As a teacher observation strategy, educational leaders SEE the questions
and student responses and is able to assess the depth and diversity of
them. The importance of questioning and discussion is supported by its
inclusion in Charlotte Danielson’s four domains of professional
practice. As the instructional process is observed, an administrator is
able to effectively analyze the thinking into the six categories.
Conferences between the teacher and observer are clear, objective, and
systematic with the focus on developing in depth critical and creative
thinking. The administrator shows which thinking processes the teacher
used during the lesson and offers constructive suggestions and a plan
for increasing use of those not in the lesson.
One administrator elaborated on this by creating a system to use the Six
Hats® as an observation strategy and a peer coaching tool. The teachers
learned and used the Hats in their classrooms. The principal developed a
question/response chart to determine the diversity of the discussion
questions. She set up a peer observation schedule so that the teachers
could observe each other teaching. Initially the teachers found that the
vast majority of their questions were White Hat. With this knowledge
teachers modified their questions. The principal leading this initiative
states
"Our work with DeBono's SIX HATS® has been a great base for improving
our work with higher level thinking. I often hear references to those
darn ‘White Hat questions’, so deadly in large numbers. The awareness
created from the SIX HATS® has been valuable.” Suzanne Herr, Principal,
Solanco School District, PA
In Burgettstown Area School District, Deborah Jackson, adds the
following benefits from the point of view of the superintendent of
schools. The Six Hats®:
- Empower teachers to utilize best practices in their classrooms
- Encourage teachers to utilize proven instructional methods that are
researched based
- Encourage teachers to “take a risk” to learn something new and apply
it to their teaching
- Encourage imagination and the power of what ifs….
Many administrators agree with the prevalence of White Hat, knowledge
level questions. However, this changes and diverse, critical and
creative questions flourish when applying Six Hats®. When we see our
thinking, administrators and teachers become more effective teaching and
working together.
“While leading a class discussion, I could tell the direction the class
was headed by listening to their responses. A few key HATS questions
could switch the students’ thoughts in a different direction. The Six
Hats® has been a valuable tool during my student teaching experience. My
cooperating teacher commented on how my questioning skills have
improved.” Andrea Mamrose, Indiana University of Pennsylvania,
Presentation of “A Quick Look at the Six Hats®”, First Annual Scholars
Conference, 2006
THE IMPACT OF DISTRICT-WIDE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Berwick Area School District's professional staff was introduced to Six
Hats® several years ago, providing them a specific way to approach
thinking and decision making for themselves and with their students.
Thinking is an act that can be somewhat overwhelming because we try to
make decisions with various elements pulling at us. Our creative side
argues with our practical side, our pros argue with our cons, and our
emotions argue with our brains.
The toolbox of the Six Thinking Hats® provides our staff and students
with a concrete way to approach decision making in the classroom. One
student claims that this technique broadened her way of thinking; she
now approaches her assignments in a whole new light, especially with
cooperative learning activities and group projects. This thinking
technique works both in the boardroom and in the classroom. Holly
Morrison, Director of Curriculum, K-12, Berwick School District, PA
DECISION MAKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING
Decision making and problem solving are essential skills for adults and
children. HATS IN SEQUENCES provide a colorful seven step structure to
solve problems and make decisions. In a physics classroom problem
solving is facilitated by Six Hats®.
"The HATS were introduced in a unit on the use of petroleum in the
United States and alternate energy forms. The students became familiar
with what I expect for each HAT process. We now use the HATS for problem
solving. They answer questions using the HATS in greater depth without
me prompting them to go deeper. " Dean Brewer, Physics Teacher, Southern
Columbia High School, PA
Six Hats® problem solving has benefited students in Odyssey of the Mind,
Destination Imagination, and Invent America. It promotes communication
among team members, improves creative production, provides the next
steps, and resolves team problems effectively.
“My students revel in the metacognitive strategies. They love thinking
about thinking! Students purposefully examine all approaches to solving
a problem. Plus it's just plain FUN!” Judy Micheletti, Odyssey of the
Mind Coordinator, Berwick School District, PA
MULTICULTURAL DIVERSITY HATS TRAINING CREATES A SAFER SCHOOL
As a conflict resolution tool, Six Hats® has been helping to create a
safer school climate in Berwick High School. A multicultural diversity
group uses Six Hats® as their leadership and problem solving tool in
handling conflict and change. Scenarios related to diversity challenge
the students and the Hats. Role playing with problems being analyzed and
resolved connects problem solving to their lives.
The Six Hats® helps multiculturally diverse students SEE how they react
in difficult situations. The concreteness of the Hats helps them
identify their reactions to situations, analyze them, and create real
life change, the primary goal of a diversity groups. Conflict resolution
and a more positive school climate result from student problem solving
with Six Hats®. Sally Meyer, Teacher and Diversity Group Coordinator,
Berwick High School, PA
TEACH, LEARN, LEAD
In summary, Six Hats® is a tool that promotes quality thinking and
communication for students, teachers, and educational leaders. As the
HATS activate the brain with color, they create a delightful and
meaningful experience for those who teach, learn and lead using them.
Testimonials from around the globe applaud the Six Hats® for their power
to focus thinking and communication, provide a self-monitoring strategy,
enhance reading comprehension, offer a process for problem solving and
decision making, and foster independence, leadership, and teamwork.
References
- Adolescent Literacy, a Position Statement for the Commission on
Adolescent Literacy of the International Reading Association,
International Reading Association, Newark, DE. 1999.
- DeBono, Edward. Six Thinking Hats®. First Back Bay: MICA Management
Resources, 1999.
- Farr, Roger C. (Senior Author, Harcourt Language, Harcourt Inc.)
”Keynote to Western Pennsylvania Association for Curriculum and
Supervision”, April, 2000.
- DeBono, Edward. Serious Creativity. Des Moines, Iowa: Advanced
Practical Thinking Training, 1992, p. 31
- Vacca, Jo Anne, Richard T. Vacca, Mary K. Gove, Linda C. Burkey, Lisa
A. Lenhart, and Christine A. McKeon. Reading and Learning to Read, Sixth
Edition, Boston: Pearson, 2006.
About the Author
Franny F. McAleer, is on the faculty of the Department of Professional
Studies in Education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Indiana,
Pennsylvania. She is also an educational consultant for
www.deBonoForSchools.com
You can contact her at 724-413-6001 or via email at McAleer@iup.edu or
franny@learnerslink.com
|
