De Bono's 6 Thinking Hats

	The black hat looks for weak points and problems. The black hat always provides a reason why something will not work. The black hat asks 'What is wrong with this?'
	Yellow hat thinking looks for ways an idea might work or succeed. The yellow hat always provides a reason why something will work. The yellow hat asks 'What are the good points?' or 'What are the benefits?'
	The white hat is for finding information. White hat thinking deals only with the facts. The white hat asks 'What information do we have?' 'What information do we need?' and 'How do we get the information that we need?'
	The green hat is for creative thinking. A great analogy is a plant with new growth. With the green hat, we think of new ideas, possibilities or alternatives. The green hat asks 'What new ideas do we have?'
	The red hat is for expressing feelings and hunches. The red hat requires no justification. With the red hat we ask 'What do I feel about this?'
	Wearing the blue hat is like being in the sky above, looking down on a situation and planning for the best way to think about it. The blue hat has two functions: to look at the thinking that we are doing and to tell us what thinking to do next. The blue hat asks 'What thinking is needed?' 'What is the next step?' 'What thinking has been done?'.
Edward de Bono¹s Six Thinking Hats are an analysis tool that can be used in a number of ways. Further ideas for introducing them to teachers and children can be found in 'Six Thinking Hats for Schools' by Edward de Bono.