Sharing Good Practice
Developing Young Children’s
Cognitive Skills Using the Six Thinking Hats
By Marwa Al Samsam
R
ecent research has found that
students’ understanding of their
learning process helps improve
and accelerate their learning.
Teachers keep learning expectations
a secret from their students especially
the very young ones. This might be
due to certain beliefs about young
children’s mental capabilities and
their inability to think abstractly. It
is true that thinking processes don’t
involve anything tangible. However, if
visualized, it can help young children
understand their own thinking process.
The de Bono’s 6 Thinking Hats can
be used to introduce children to
different modes of thought. Each hat
represents a category of thinking, and
by switching them, teachers can easily
redirect learners to other ideas and
point of views.
Before you start using this strategy,
the following will help you to get
started:
1. Use symbols/images to visualize
each hat, think of appropriate facial
expressions/body language to go
with each one.
2. Introduce just one new hat every
day/week so children aren’t
overwhelmed.
3. Revise the hats already introduced
before introducing a new hat.
4. Be consistent with the use of
language. Use the same keywords
every time you phrase questions.
children’s abilities to demonstrate
positive thinking about rainy and cold
weather by asking:
The story in figure 1 will help
demonstrate how questions can be
asked using this strategy:
“What do you like about rain?”
Start with the WHITE (information
hat): Remind children that the White
Hat is used to check what they already
know about the topic (rainy and cold
weather in this story).
“How does the weather look?”
“Why is Fifi holding an umbrella?”
The RED (emotional hat): The Red
Hat is used when we want to check how
we, or others, might feel in different
situations.
“How do you think Fifi and Prickly feel
after they were splashed with water?”
The BLACK (cautionary hat): The
Black Hat is used to check what could
be a disadvantage in the topic they are
learning about. To help children think
about the downside of rainy weather,
you can ask:
“Why/how do you think rain can be a
disadvantage?”
The YELLOW (benefits hat): Check
The GREEN (creative hat): Remind
children we use the Green Hat to think
of other possibilities and solutions
about the topic.
“What else could the bear have done
to help his friend get dry faster?”
The BLUE (facilitator/reflection hat):
Remind children the Blue Hat is used
to check whether children are able to
sequence the story events in order.
Remind them that when we use this
hat, we are like a bird in the sky looking
down. Asking children to sequence
the events of the story helps check
children’s general understanding of
the story events.
Characters: The fox: Fifi, the
hedgehog: Prickly and the bear: Benny
Story taken from Show and Tell level 2
Oxford University Press.
The more students become aware
of their own thinking and able to
mentally represent this information
through visualization, the stronger
their cognitive structures will become
and therefore the more likely they will
achieve better learning results! The
fact that this strategy is implemented
within learning contexts helps children
make direct connections between
their own thinking into their lessons
without consuming any extra time out
of the teachers’ busy schedule.
REFERENCES
Betty K. Garner (2007) Getting to "Got
It”: Helping Struggling Students Learn
How to Learn. United States of America.
Association for Supervision & Curriculum
Development
Drevitch, K. Kosarik, R, L (2007) Using the
Six Hats in Your Classroom. Second Indiana
University of Pennsylvania: http://www.
learnerslink.com/scholar's_conference.
htm. [accessed July 18, 2007].
14 | Jan - Feb 2016 |
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