Six Thinking Hats Technique

In a B1 level speaking class, students were asked to talk about an important day in their home countries. As part of this activity, Iran’s “National Book Reading Day” was chosen as the topic. To explore the subject in greater depth, the instructor, Lecturer Sedef Can Baydar, applied the Six Thinking Hats technique.

This method encourages different styles of thinking and is implemented as follows:

White Hat: Facts and information (What do we know about this topic? What have we learned?)

Yellow Hat: Positive thinking (What are the benefits of this topic?)

Black Hat: Critical perspective (What are the possible problems with this topic?)

Red Hat: Emotions and feelings (How did this topic make you feel?)

Green Hat: Creativity and new ideas (What else could be done differently?)

Blue Hat: Organization and process management (How would you evaluate and organize the topic overall?)

Students shared their thoughts according to the color of the hat they were assigned, which created an engaging and interactive discussion in the classroom. They not only expressed their opinions but also examined both the positive and negative aspects of the topic. While fact-based analyses were conducted, creative perspectives were also developed. Through this method, students had the opportunity to evaluate the topic from multiple angles using both critical and creative thinking skills.