1. Y12 IB DT – all options. Becoming a critical thinker…

2. Being critical does not mean simply finding faults with something. Criticism is about examining a situation from many angles to help build up a better understanding before decisions are made. Critical thinking skills are useful in life and especially important in Technology…

3. Becoming a critical thinker… Edward de Bono uses a system called Six Thinking Hats to help people develop critical thinking skills. You may already be familiar with it. This is how it works, it’s very simple…

5. We are going to use Six Thinking Hats in a slightly different way to evaluate some products. We are going to use the White, Red and Black hats only.

6. White hat: White hat: Look objectively at the product. Decide what you KNOW and DON’T KNOW about it. Black hat: Try to think about problems with the product. What problems might people find when they use the product? Yellow hat: What good features does the product have? What things work well?

7. Chopsticks…

8. Plastic bags…

9. Plastic milk bottles…

10. Child’s bike…

11. Octopus…

12. Ready meals…

13. Disposable razors…

14. Wind-up torch…

15. ‘Smart’ car…

16. Crocs…

17. If you have time, use Green hat thinking to come up with some creative solutions to the problems that the Black hat thinkers have described. You should record all of your ideas and not worry about whether they are realistic or not. An important skill for all designers to have is the ability to explore every possibility, no matter how unrealistic it may seem…