Week 2 - Six hats are better than One!

In our tutorial this week we were introduced to de Bono's six thinking hats. In relation to the six thinking hats we were to complete an activity which allowed us to express whether or not we think the use of mobile phones should be introduced into schools as a learning tool. This activity was to be completed in a wiki which had been developed in the past. 

My previous experiences with wiki had me concerned when I first looked at this activity. I have never been confident with using wiki as it has always scared me. Essentially, a wiki is quite similar to a webpage where it allows you to read, exchange, edit and modify ideas. Everyone can see your view points and opinions. However, a blog is based on who you are. It is where you can express your feelings and reflect on your experiences. Today I overcame this fear and concurred wiki with ease. Turns out wiki was not as confronting as I thought it was going to be. The simple layout and instructions definitely made it easy to understand and follow.  

Source: Google Images 

Some people can find the six thinking hats extremely confronting. The six thinking hats are made up of 6 different colours. These consist of:

White Hat - Facts, information, data, research needed. (Bloom's knowledge). 

Red Hat - Feelings, hunches, emotions, intuition. (Bloom's evaluation).

Black Hat - Caution, risks, judgment. (Bloom's analysis and evaluation). 

Yellow Hat - Benefits, good, vale, strengths. (Bloom's analysis and evaluation). 

Green Hat - Creativity, new ideas, brainstorming, predicting. (Bloom's synthesis). 

Blue Hat - Thinking about thinking, metacognition, summaising. (Bloom's comprehension and application).

Source: Screen shot from wiki page 

My original thoughts towards whether or not mobile phones should be used in a classroom as a learning tool were very negative. I felt as thought the black hat was the only hat I wanted to wear. However, after thinking further into the question began to change my mind and tried on the the other hats. I recongnised that to be a great educator means you need to be resilient and adapt to change. Therefore, being creative, resourceful and doing what interests the students. So why not give mobile phones a change, right? I began to make connections with the facts and other uses for mobile phone and decided that it would be worth expressing my alternative view points and opinions. De Bono's six thinking hats encouraged me to consider different vies through a range of thinking strategies. By wearing each different hat it allowed me to be open minded to the subject and consider all outcomes. This is a highly valued strategy to use throughout learning. On the right is a screenshot of my participate, view points and opinions throughout the wiki activity.

"Mobile phones are forcing children to become more literate. Without the ability to txt, they cannot fully participate in their own cultures of communication" - Perter Yeomans

Jenny Abel 

Source: Google Images