Those cool thinking hats
Sheela Ramakrishnan
It was difficult to write about one book – but this one won hands down! It was in the early 90s that I stumbled upon the book Teach your child how to think by Edward de Bono. I had no idea about who I was reading and that what was in there was already a mantra. But it fascinated me no end – his focus on moving from critical thinking to creative thinking, from linear to lateral – truly had me reflecting on whether what we do in our schools was way too structured.
And with that began my journey into exploring my own methods of teaching. Was I getting bogged down by one method? Could I teach the same topic differently each year? Was there only one way to approach a problem? All these and more as I began devouring the rest of his books and then realized what a treasure I had hit upon!
He is the father of creative thinking – was responsible for putting the word lateral thinking into the Oxford Dictionary and his techniques – 6 Thinking Hats and Creativity Tools were validated world over in both education and industry.
Soon I found myself unconsciously imbibing his works in both my personal and professional life. Years later – when the purse expanded a little bit – and with it my discontent at just bookish knowledge, I decided to get trained formally in his tools for education.
That transformed my thinking more deeply and gave me a new understanding to creativity. I learnt that creativity did not mean being a whiz or a genius – or something that someone is born with – it is a conscious process that can be built and made better and better through just practice. By using techniques it is possible to “break away from the patterns in the brain”. It is nothing but pure problem solving – the ability to move from point A to B when faced with an obstacle instead of getting stuck. It meant the ability of the mind to see connections where none apparently exist – thereby expanding the potential of the human mind.
When applied to education it led me to new ways of presenting concepts, to observe and identify patterns in situations and people, to believe that there is more than one way, to accept that there are several perspectives to the same issue and above all to dare to think that what appears impossible can actually be simple. I gained the confidence to implement new methods, approaches, problem solving techniques and to look for learning experiences in failed attempts. And I learnt that creativity is not a destination – but a continuous process – that was liberating!
The new understanding obviously widened my horizons and it was as if a light had just been switched on. Daniel Goleman and his EQ, Tony Buzan and his mind maps, Howard Gardner with his Multiple Intelligence – all seemed to be waltzing together. I was able to see how they integrated to form a more “thinking mind”.
With the world shrinking and educational policy makers pushing educators to build 21st century students – I would urge educators to read De Bono’s works and the others mentioned here. It suddenly makes the monotony seem antiquated and empowers each one of us to believe that we can create the future – right there – in our classrooms!
By the way – can you see a connection between a fan and a garbage bin? Think harder – You can do it! De Bono is right – our minds have unlimited capabilities!!
The author is a Consultant, Counsellor (trained e-coach by the Stanford School of Medicine for the Mana Maali Initiative) and Trainer. She is also a partner in Edcraft, a firm engaged in development and distribution of teaching learning materials as well as a partner in Two is Company, a firm engaged in providing counselling services. She can be reached either at edcraft94@gmail.com or twoisco@gmail.com.
