Food, Inc. / Six Hats

The Big Idea

We’ve seen the film Food, Inc. in class, and now you’re going to explore that topic a bit more in-depth using a thinking strategy called Six Thinking Hats. You will look at the issue of food production in the United States, specifically, industrial food production.

You will use the Six Thinking Hats strategy to further develop an understanding for, identify problems of, and possible solutions to, industrial food production in the United States.

You will present your work in an online format, preferably using the website http://linoit.com/ which allows you to sort your thoughts, suggestions, facts, ideas, emotions, and so on. You may also use http://prezi.com/, if you wish, which will do about the same things, but differently.

Why?

• Industrial food production needs to be explored, and publicized.
• Learning new ways to think strategically is beneficial to everyone.
• Creating for the web is a valuable skill.

How To / What To Do Right Now?

1. Learn more about the Six Thinking Hats methodology, and about each hat specifically – what they do, what they provide, how they are used in strategic thinking.
2. Start with White Hat stuff. Gather the facts, etc. (You should have some stuff from the film, if you took notes!)
3. Start on paper first, mapping out facts, problems, solutions, etc. –> FOCUS ON SOLUTIONS!
4. Create and begin adding to your Online Poster-board, using http://linoit.com/
   • Set up an account.
   • Start a new canvas.
   • Make your canvas public.
   • Submit your PUBLIC URL below – so I can grade your project!
   • If you have questions, see the help pages here.
5. Alternatively, you may consider using http://prezi.com/, which offers a zooming interface, and allows you to group things nicely, as well as connecting ideas, solutions, etc.
   • Set up an account.
   • Start a new space.
   • Get the PUBLIC URL, and submit it below.
   • If you have questions, see the help pages for prezi here.
6. Make sure to color code your facts, group ideas, etc. accordingly (see example below).
7. Continue the thinking cycle by going through each hat, in order (tends to help), and keep adding to your online space. Keep going back to white hat, black hat, etc for more. Avoid spending too much time wearing the red hat!

Who Will I Work With?

1. You my work by yourself, or
2. You may work with one partner.

Please let me know who you’re working with on Wednesday, 4/20, at the latest.

DON’T MISS! –> MUST HAVEs in Your Project <– DON’T MISS!

You must have included, and cited, materials from the below sources, at least one from each (you can have more, of course):

• Actual book from IMC or library
• Government Website (see below for Ohio Revised Code details)
• Wikipedia
• Producer Website (like ConAgra, Monsanto, etc.)
• Activist Website (like PETA, Food, Inc, etc.)

Scoring

Here are some questions you should consider before submitting the project, or at the very least, before the deadline! (How would you answer these questions, based on your project?)

1. Have you exhausted the white hat role? Do you have as much information as you possibly can get your hands on?
2. Have you properly identified the black hat issues? Are there any others?
3. Do you provide enough green hat solutions to your black hat problems?
4. Have you explored all of the yellow hat benefits of each green hat solution?
5. Have you managed the project successfully? Does it look good? Is it easy to navigate? Have you addressed all the areas you wanted to address? What’s missing? What’s too much?
6. How would you grade yourself, if you were the teacher, on a letter scale from A-F? What about a scale of 1 to 3, where 3 is the best grade? How can you make your project a ‘3’?

What to Submit for Scoring

1. Submit the PUBLIC URL to your online space by clicking here.

PROJECT DEADLINE / SCHEDULE

• Wed, 4/20 – IMC – Work Day
• Thu, 4/21 – IMC – Work Day
• Mon, 4/25 – IMC – Work Day

Your project must be ready for grading on or before Tuesday, 4/26/2011, at 2:30 PM.

What will happen to our project?

Your online project will be displayed here, on this website, for the entire world to see. And yes, people from all around the globe visit… Make sure you’ve got some great stuff!

Example

Click on the link below for an example of the online stickies, and for some tips for this project:

http://linoit.com/users/eajohansson/canvases/Six%20Hats%20Food%2C%20Inc.

Resources

• Ohio Revised Code on Animals, etc: http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/9
• ORC on Health, Safety, and Morals: http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/37
• Food, Inc. DVD – available in the IMC, or from me.
• Food, Inc. Website – http://www.foodincmovie.com/
• Monsanto responses re: seeds, etc. – http://www.monsanto.com/food-inc/Pages/default.aspx

Contact Information

If you want to contact some of the people in the movie, or that deals with these issues, here’s what I’ve found. If you do, they’ll probably respond – try it!

• Michael Pollan, author – http://twitter.com/#!/michaelpollan
  • http://michaelpollan.com/
• Sheri Salatin, Polyface Farms – http://twitter.com/#!/SheriSalatin
  • http://www.polyfacefarms.com/
• Take Part, movie makers – http://twitter.com/#!/TakePart

Other Resources