How the game works
The Six Thinking Hats requires students to consider a contentious issue by 'putting on' six different thinking hats which consider the issue from different perspectives.
- The white hat requires students to think about what information they already know and what information they need;
- The red hat asks students to consider what their personal feelings are about the issue;
- The black hat focuses on the negatives about the issue;
- The yellow hat focuses on the positives of the issue;
- The green hat asks students to be creative and consider whether there are any possible new ideas or alternatives; and
- The blue hat requires students to reflect and think about the thinking process involved.
The contentious issue discussed on the online wiki site was the use of mobile phones in the classroom for educational purposes. Students, including myself, accessed an online wiki site to contribute ideas to each of the thinking hats, considering the mobile phone issue.
Learning Styles for the Six Thinking Hats
The mobile phones wiki was an excellent ICT tool for learning because it involved a number of learning styles including individual work, collaborative work, social networking, and formatting opportunities.
Firstly I had to access the wiki and see what ideas and contributions students had already made to the wiki site (collaborative work and social networking). It was interesting to see all of the different student perspectives and the various ways in which students had contributed to the site including text, links to websites and video clips (formatting opportunities).
After viewing other students' comments I began to develop some ideas of my own but I wanted to do some research of my own (individual work) before I contributed anything to the site. I then posted my ideas to the site, starting some of my own paragraphs and also adding to other students' work (collaborative work and social networking).
Learning Theories for the Six Thinking Hats
It is my view that the mobile phones wiki activity included the learning theories of connectivism and constructivism.
Connectivism
Connectivism is a theory founded by George Siemens and is "the integration of principles explored by chaos, network, and complexity and self-organization [sic] theories," (Siemens, 2004). Siemens (2004) suggests that learning can occur through the networking world of the Internet and technology. He argues that "the connections that enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing," (Siemens, 2004). Translated, this means learning is more about knowing what resources to use and how to use them to find the information we need, rather than the actual information itself. It is impossible in today's world to know everything but, by staying connected, we can easily access the answers to any questions we may have.
Another trait of connectivism is social networking, in which one can observe and contribute to a diverse range of opinions (Siemens, 2004). Siemens (2004) says "information flow within an organization [sic] is an important element in organizational [sic] effectiveness," and the more information flows, the more people learn.
The Six Thinking Hats wiki exercise was a great example of connectivism for the following reasons:
- The exercise was completed online; a key element of connectivism;
- The exercise required students to do some research of their own in order to contribute to the wiki site. It is safe to say that most (if not all) of the research would have been conducted online, accessing an endless amount of resources relating to the use of mobile phones in the classroom; and
- The wiki exercise allowed students to offer their diverse opinions, allowing information and ideas to flow and build.
The Six Thinking Hats wiki exercise also reflected the learning theory of social constructivism. This theory can be attributed to Lev Vygotsky and focuses on a person's learning as a result of active social interactions (Bose, 2010). Under this learning theory
we learn not as isolated individuals acquiring chunks of disassociated quasi-permanent truths, but as members of society. What we learn, and how we make sense of knowledge, depends on where and when we are learning. Learning takes place through dialogue and is mediated through language and other systems of signs, such as gestures or diagrams. (Wilson, 2003, p1).
The wiki exercise was largely an example of social constructivism because the learning process took place through an online interactive web page which allowed students (including myself) to interact with each other a build on each others' knowledge.
My experience with the Six Thinking Hats wiki
I was one of the last to contribute to the mobile phones wiki exercise (because I had no Internet connection for a week). At first I thought that was going to place me at a disadvantage, but I think it actually worked out to my advantage.
When I first accessed the wiki site I saw that many students had contributed to the site, building on each others' comments and observations. I immediately thought that everything important that could be said would already have been mentioned. I knew I was going to be challenged to add something 'new' to the site, rather than simply reiterating what had already been said.
I read through all of the students' comments and then began doing some research of my own on the Internet (a form of connectivism learning) in order to add my own ideas. I actually found a number of issues relating to mobile phones which had not been mentioned on the wiki site. I was then able to add these ideas to the site.
I think one of the key benefits of participating in the wiki activity later on was that I was challenged to think a lot harder than some of the students who simply put forward the most obvious ideas. In addition, I had the opportunity of reading everyone's different perspectives (a form of social constructivism learning) so I had an idea of the varying opinions on the use of mobile phones in the classroom.
The benefits and drawbacks of learning through a wiki
Some of the key benefits of participating in a wiki exercise like the Six Thinking Hats are:
- It is a great form of social constructivist learning, allowing students to collaborate and build on ideas together. This allows students to learn more than what they would on their own;
- It is also a great form of connectivism because the learning exercise is performed on the Internet and students can also use the Internet to research and contribute ideas;
- The exercise allows students to teach others by adding and explaining the ideas they have researched. Teaching others is one of the best ways of learning because students retain up to 90 percent of what they teach, (The National Training Laboratories in Bethel, Maine).
- Some students are shy, even participating in online wiki exercises. Therefore they may not feel comfortable or confident enough to contribute properly;
- Some students may be lazy and allow all other students to contribute, without doing any real work or research themselves;
- Some students may dominate the wiki site, allowing for little contribution from other students or strongly influencing students' opinions in a negative way.
The use of wiki activities like the Six Thinking Hats to contribute to learning
The use if wiki activities such as the Six Thinking Hats can contribute to students' learning because it is so interactive. Incorporating digital technology in learning activities is very engaging for students and is beneficial because it requires students to utilise the Internet (connectivism) to participate in the activity itself and also conduct research.
Furthermore, students tend to engage more when working together (social constructivism) to build on their knowledge and teach others. Wiki exercises like the Six Thinking Hats require students to partake in Higher Order Thinking in accordance with the cognitive domain in Boom's Taxonomy (Big Dog and Little Dog's Performance Juxtaposition, 1999).
The scaffolding in this activity also assists learning by breaking the activity down to think about different issues. This means students are able to address each issue separately, ensuring they cover everything related to the topic they are learning about.
References
Submission Papers:
- Bose, S. (2010, February). Learning Collaboratively with Web 2.0 Technologies: Putting into Action Social Constructivism. Paper presented at the National Distance Education Programme-Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (DEP-SSA) Seminar on Technology Enhanced Collaboration for Improving Quality of Education at Elementary Level, New Delhi, India.
- Wilson, K. (2003). A Social Constructivist Approach to Teaching Reading: Turning the rhetoric into reality. Paper presented at the 16th Educational Conference, Melbourne, Victoria.
- Big Dog and Little Dog's Performance Juxtaposition. (1999). Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Domains. Retrieved from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html#cognitive.
- de Bono Thinking Systems. (n.d.). Dr. Edward de Bono. Retrieved from http://www.debonothinkingsystems.com/about/Edward.htm.
- Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm.
- The National Training Laboratories in Bethel, Maine.
