De Bono

Over the years, Education Departments across the world have shown a growing interest in the 'ways of developing children's thinking and learning skills' (Fisher n.d., ¶ 1). There has been a real need for teaching thinking skills at schools, especially creative thinking (de Bono 2009, p. 25). Educators should provide more opportunities for creative thinking, that will develop more thinking children in thinking classrooms, and eventually more thinking schools that will prepare children for an unpredictable future (de Bono Thinking Systems 2011, ¶ 4). Educators are aware of the important role thinking plays in the life of students and how to prepare students for their future (de Bono Thinking Systems 2011, ¶ 4). It is known that creative thinking skills are essential for effective learning, and that traditional thinking methods, based on analysis, judgement and argument, are no longer as applicable for a rapidly changing world (The de Bono Group 1998, ¶ 2). Therefore, Edward de Bono invented the Six Thinking Hats to prepare students to go beyond their usual thinking habits (The de Bono Group 1998, ¶ 2). By teaching these Six Thinking Hats in schools, students will develop creative minds, and creative futures that will provide keys to better achievements in life (Fisher n.d., ¶ 5).

According to de Bono (2009, p. 125) 'teaching thinking should be the key subject in education. Nothing is more important than thinking.' It is the most fundamental skill that can be developed and improved (de Bono 2009, p. 125). Schools are not teaching enough creative thinking (de Bono 2009, p. 125). Creative thinking should be the main focus of every subject in every school, as without thinking students will make little progress and society will not move forward (de Bono 2009, p. 125). Educators have an important role to teach children how to think productively by combining critical thinking and creative thinking (Rusbult 2008b, ¶ 1). Many people believe that creative thinking is too difficult to enjoy and do not realise that thinking is actually a skill that can be learned and not a talent (de Bono Thinking Systems 2011, ¶ 4; de Bono 1996, p. 254). Creative thinking is vital for learning and needs to be nurtured, learned and enhanced through the use of deliberate techniques, strategies and tools (Rusbult 2008a, ¶ 3). Edward de Bono was the leader in the field of creative thinking and divides creative thinking into two methods: the lateral thinking method and the parallel thinking method (de Bono Thinking Systems 2011, ¶ 2).

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