How this exercise works
- Pick a hat below. Each one asks a different kind of question.
- Tap "Copy prompt" on any card, then paste it into your AI assistant.
- Read the reply slowly. Notice what surprised you.
- Try a second hat on the same topic and compare what changes.
Each hat offers three depths: Simple gets you moving, Deeper adds structure, and Doorway opens something unexpected.
New to all of this? Start with Fixer Hat — Deeper. It targets the one real soft spot you already suspect (Frame vs. Fix blur) with something concrete you can act on immediately, rather than sending you off into open-ended research or speculation first.
Finder Hat — Find
The explorer's hat. Wear it to see what else is out there, and what research and other teachers already know about frameworks like this one.
What other simple frameworks (besides Four Hats) are commonly used to teach older adults how to think through a topic step by step? Give me a few examples with a one-line description of each.
What does research on adult learning and cognitive aging say about how many categories or steps work best when teaching a new mental framework to older adults? Please note where the research is solid versus where it's more general opinion, and flag anything time-sensitive.
Find examples of other teachers or programs (in any field, not just AI) who use a "hat" or "role" metaphor to teach thinking skills. What made those approaches succeed or fail?
Framer Hat — Frame
The thinker's hat. Wear it to examine your own assumptions — what "Four Hats" assumes, and what that choice of word and shape hides.
What assumption am I making by calling these four categories "hats" instead of, say, "modes," "lenses," or "gears"? Does the word choice change how someone might use the framework?
If I designed this framework for a twelve-year-old instead of a retiree, what would I change? What does that difference reveal about what I'm actually assuming about my OLLI learners?
What if Four Hats isn't really a thinking framework at all, but a permission structure — a way of telling someone "it's okay to just look something up" or "it's okay to be playful"? How would that reframing change what I emphasize when I teach it?
Fixer Hat — Fix
The workshop hat. Wear it to test the framework against your own materials, and sharpen the parts that don't hold up yet.
Here is my current one-paragraph explanation of Four Hats: [paste your paragraph]. Rewrite it so a first-time AI user could explain it back to a friend in one sentence.
Look at the distinction I currently draw between the Framer Hat and the Fixer Hat: [paste your explanation]. Where is this likely to confuse someone new, and how could I sharpen the line between them?
Take my Four Hats framework and try to break it — find the topic or situation where it fits worst. Then suggest one small adjustment that would fix that weak spot without overcomplicating the whole system.
Flyer Hat — Fly
The aviator's cap. Wear it to imagine other shapes this framework could take — or a fifth hat nobody's invented yet.
If Four Hats were a set of tools in a toolbox instead of hats, what would each tool be — and would that be a clearer metaphor for someone who's never used AI before?
Imagine a skeptical retired engineer and a curious retired poet both encounter Four Hats for the first time. Write a short imagined exchange between them about whether it's a useful way to think.
Invent a fifth "hat" that doesn't exist yet — one that would surprise even you. What would it be for, and would adding it strengthen or dilute the framework?
After you try a hat or two
- Which hat felt most natural to turn on the framework itself? Which felt strangest?
- Did questioning Four Hats make you trust it more, or less?
- What is one small change you'd actually make to how you teach it?