Red Thinking Hat

WHAT IS IT, AND HOW IS IT USEFUL? The red hat focuses on emotional response to an issue. This hat is useful for exploring issues in the media report and in this associated unit because it allows students to understand how they are emotionally affected by the report, and gauge their own ‘gut’ knowledge about refugees (garnered from prior knowledge), which will in turn allow students to understand where they are coming from as they begin learning about refugees.

ACTIVITY IDEAS: After reading the article as a class, students should get a chance to visually represent their emotional reaction to the piece. They are instructed to illustrate the perception of refugees that the article conveyed to them. The teacher instructs students that this image is to be done privately, giving students the chance to be truthful in their responses without creating an unsafe environment for any other students.

To begin creating a balanced understanding of the refugee experience, the teacher then directs students to the perspective of a Sri Lankan refugee, such as the audio reflection accessible at BBC's 'Road to Refuge' (follow this link). Teacher ensures a safe learning environment is maintained by prefacing the activity with the warning that it may upset some students. Students are again given the chance to privately illustrate their emotional response to this audio.

Their two illustrations will be revisited at the conclusion of the lesson sequence.
The Community Matters Draft, published by the Commonwealth of Australia (2012) reminds educators that “Students come to the classroom with preconceptions about how the world works”, and emphasises that if educators fail to connect with students’ prior knowledges, effective learning will be hindered (p. 133). Allowing students to acknowledge their ‘gut’ response assists in activating their prior knowledge, which in turn should enable quality learning to occur.

HOW DOES THIS LINK TO THE SYLLABUS? This activity makes small steps towards fulfilling the Culture strand outcomes of the HSIE Stage 3 Syllabus by asking students to indirectly consider ‘the influence of current events’ on their world view. (NSW BOS, 1998, p. 61).