The six thinking hats
Duration
2 hours
Age Group
15 - 16
Objectives
Promotion of EU citizenship, EU and democratic values and human rights
Enhancement of empathy outside school (friends, family, strangers
Development of empathic behavior at school
Enhancement of empathy outside school (friends, family, strangers
Development of empathic behavior at school
Needed material
Paper sheets with human rights/ 6 coloured hats
Paper with budget currency
Paper with budget currency
Emotional Intelligence Areas
Empathy
Internal motivation
Internal motivation
Description
This activity uses the six thinking hats method, which asks the student to look into a problem by considering it only through one of these items at a time: emotions, information, logic, expectations, hopes, ideas and creativity. The problem is solved from the perspective of different character roles, represented by 6 coloured thinking hats. The White hat is neutral and objective; it is like a computer that gives the facts and figures. The Red hat is associated with anger and emotions and it is opposite to the white hat. The Red hat thinking allows emotions and feelings to control thinking. The Black hat represents negative aspects (not negative feelings). It concentrates on obstacles and gives logical reasons why something is a bad idea or should not be done. It points to errors, risks and dangers in the thinking map. The Yellow hat thinking (the opposite of the black hat) represents positive aspects and hopes. It is positive thinking resulting from curiosity, pleasure and desire to make things happen. The Green hat indicates creativity and new ideas. It is creative and looks for new approaches to problem-solving.
The Blue hat is associated with coolness; it deals with controlling/organising/monitoring the thinking process: asking the right questions, defining the problem and setting the thinking tasks. It checks if the rules of the game are observed.
The role-play technique used in the unit enhances students’ participation and motivation. The focus of the task is the introduction of a special class on Human Rights with practical activities (field trips, meetings with experts, research projects, simulations, debates etc) into the school curriulum; this would help students know their rights and responsibilities, get involved in their local communities and bettering the people around them.
The Blue hat is associated with coolness; it deals with controlling/organising/monitoring the thinking process: asking the right questions, defining the problem and setting the thinking tasks. It checks if the rules of the game are observed.
The role-play technique used in the unit enhances students’ participation and motivation. The focus of the task is the introduction of a special class on Human Rights with practical activities (field trips, meetings with experts, research projects, simulations, debates etc) into the school curriulum; this would help students know their rights and responsibilities, get involved in their local communities and bettering the people around them.
Lesson Plan
Assign students the following roles: students who think that such classes would prepare them for life and help them develop as active citizens ; school council representatives who do not see the point in providing such classes for their students. Some of them think that students study the Human rights during their civic classes (for two hours/ year), which is enough.
The country’s authorities support such classes and suggest that students should reach out to the school council representatives and present themselves in order to change their mindset. They state that education for human rights has become, more than ever, very imporatnt. It would help students realise the importance of human rights, internalize human rights values, integrate them into their life and become active agents in ensuring that Human Rights are met in their community. Human rights should be part of everyone’s education (theoretically and practically).
The group should be divided in the following way:
- School council representatives: red and black hats
- Immigrant students: white, yellow and green hats
- Country authorities’ representative: blue hat
Students who have the same colour of the hat within the group should work together in pairs or subgroups.
Students have 15 minutes to prepare 2/3 proposals to support the introduction of Human rights classes into the curriculum. To convince the School council representatives, every hat should prepare a speech representing the idea as illustrated by the hat colour.
At the same time, school council representatives should think about the negative aspects of introducing these classes into the curriculum (ie lack of time/ of trained teachers), as black hats and negative emotions connected to it, as red hats.
All parties prepare their tasks, present their conclusions and then discuss the ideas one by one according to the colour of their hats. Blue hat monitors the discussion between school council representatives and students. Discussion should lead to the evaluation of the ideas and choosing the best one. The Blue hat gives a summary at the end and chooses the best idea.
The country’s authorities support such classes and suggest that students should reach out to the school council representatives and present themselves in order to change their mindset. They state that education for human rights has become, more than ever, very imporatnt. It would help students realise the importance of human rights, internalize human rights values, integrate them into their life and become active agents in ensuring that Human Rights are met in their community. Human rights should be part of everyone’s education (theoretically and practically).
The group should be divided in the following way:
- School council representatives: red and black hats
- Immigrant students: white, yellow and green hats
- Country authorities’ representative: blue hat
Students who have the same colour of the hat within the group should work together in pairs or subgroups.
Students have 15 minutes to prepare 2/3 proposals to support the introduction of Human rights classes into the curriculum. To convince the School council representatives, every hat should prepare a speech representing the idea as illustrated by the hat colour.
At the same time, school council representatives should think about the negative aspects of introducing these classes into the curriculum (ie lack of time/ of trained teachers), as black hats and negative emotions connected to it, as red hats.
All parties prepare their tasks, present their conclusions and then discuss the ideas one by one according to the colour of their hats. Blue hat monitors the discussion between school council representatives and students. Discussion should lead to the evaluation of the ideas and choosing the best one. The Blue hat gives a summary at the end and chooses the best idea.
Assessment
At the end, the teacher summarises the work done by the students and encourages students to talk about their feelings when they had to convince the school council to accept them. Possible questions for discussion:
- Would you like to have such classes on Human Rights?
- How would you like to have them organised?
- What advantages would you have from studying Human rights? Do you think this would help you in life?/ with your future career?
- Would you like to have such classes on Human Rights?
- How would you like to have them organised?
- What advantages would you have from studying Human rights? Do you think this would help you in life?/ with your future career?
Links for further information
TESTING AND ASSESSMENT