A brief description: the De Bono's
"thinking hats" activity for the current week (2) consisted of a
table layout as seen in figure 1, and a question or topic, which in this case
was "the use of mobile phones in the classroom". The activity
encourages the participants to put on a thinking hat and answer the question
using that hats particular mindset. The end result as seen in figure 2, allows
multiple answers or opinions to be viewed within a range of "thinking
hat" perspectives. Only one "thinking hat" perspective is shown
in figure 2.
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| Figure 1: a blank form |
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| Figure 2: an example of the end result |
Through my own personal participation,
I found myself genuinely enjoying this activity as I felt I could actually
approach the question and answer it in the "right" way. The simple
layout and straightforward instructions allowed the task to be undertaken with
ease, however most importantly for me it prompted a particular way of answering
the question. While discouraging off topic answers the thinking hats allow you
to answer in a multitude of ways or perspectives through donning each different
hat, which in turn allows the participants to consider all aspects of the
topic. This task set up leaves no vague instructions, a point I appreciated
immensely as I myself struggle answering questions that are "open to
interpretation" as this can often be overwhelming.
In a classroom environment an
activity like this can contribute to learning through having students moving
forward with their work quickly and with ease. Such an activity which allows for
students to see what other students think in a semi-real time manner, which
(like a debate) can allow for expanded thought processes by students who see
other sides of the argument. This provides an opportunity to challenge each
other with their responses through differing opinions or suggesting new views
that have not yet been spoken of- such as I was challenged to do throughout my own participation. All with
which encourage deeper consideration of the task question, which in turn allows
for a deeper and more valuable learning outcome. That is however, only the
desired outcome. While this task works for university students who are adults
and will most always have a go, high school students may differ in their
approach to the task. For example this activity shows responses colour coded to
the participating student's name, this could be intimidating and lead to worries
such as "will my work be as good as the person that has written a whole
paragraph?", "what if my opinions or ideas are wrong?" or
"will this create an opportunity for bullying or belittlement?" as it
can safely be assumed (in my opinion) that more students than we think are
uncomfortable with such a confronting activity. I offer this opinion, as I was
one of these students. Also by allowing students to see what other students
have answered, it is possible that students who lack the confidence to attempt
the task honestly or who are not interested or engaged by this method will
simply paraphrase or re-write what other students have written, without
thinking about it much themselves.
This activity can be altered for a
high school setting through making it anonymous, so that students can feel safe
about sharing as I am of the belief that a safe learning environment is highly
important. However, this may mean that without a way to discern who has
submitted what through logs or a secondary submission, this would not accepted
for assessment. I would also suggest that this activity be printed or emailed
out separately- this activity would need to somehow dispensed so that a student
did not have the option of sabotaging another's entry although edit logs can
reveal this, the possibility remains (as seen by what happens to some Wikipedia
pages). Perhaps this activity would be best used as a brainstorming exercise
for opinionative or analytical essays, where a student would fill out the sheet
with their own answers and name and the teacher would add them anonymously to
the wiki afterwards to then take advantage of this activities main perk;
comparison.
This activity in its most
simple form provides scaffolding with the purpose of exercising a higher level
of thinking through the use of some of the terms mentioned in Bloom's
taxonomy's comprehension sector such as "contrast",
"compare", "differentiate" (figure 3).
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| Figure 3: Bloom's Taxonomy |
This scaffolding can be incorporated
into near any pedagogy to aid in the improvement of learning outcomes. To
conclude my blog for today I have left some of my considerations and
suggestions as to what I intend by this.
English: a brainstorming exercise for
opinionative or analytical essays, where a student would fill out the sheet
with their own answers and name and the teacher would add them anonymously to
the wiki afterwards to then take advantage of this activities main perk;
comparison.
Business: a pitch method within
marketing possibly where students consider the best method of presentation and
topic, this could also with the right class encourage a healthy competition
where the teacher could incorporate some sort of reward.
