The 6 Thinking Hats technique developed by Edward De Bono separates critical thinking into 6 colored "hats" representing different perspectives or modes of thinking. The main idea is for a group to consider a problem or topic while only "wearing" one hat's perspective at a time. The hats are White (facts), Red (emotions), Black (caution), Yellow (optimism), Green (creativity), and Blue (process). Various hat sequences can be used - for example, Yellow then Black to evaluate an idea by considering positives then negatives. The document provides examples of hat activities and thinking sequences to structure discussions and problem solving.