Edward de Bono has another major strategy which is highly effective in practice. His 'Six Thinking Hats' encourages students to consider different perspectives of a problem, idea or situation by wearing a different coloured hat - either figuratively or literally. The hats are labelled as follows:

• The White Hat = the objective facts
• The Red Hat = emotions, feelings, hunches and intuitions
• The Black Hat = disadvantages, difficulties and negative realities
• The Yellow Hat = advantages and benefits
• The Green Hat = creative improvement
• The Blue Hat = metacognition

The six hats method can be taught directly as part of a thinking skills programme or can be incorporated into curriculum areas. It provides a simple and practical way of showing that thinking is a skill that can be learned practiced and improved.