Aisling, Nathan & Ibrahim - could the Elephant analogy be used as way of explaining/defining parallel thinking quickly and simply? Is it better than the house analogy? Do you need to tell the story or does this image do the trick? Is there a better analogy to explain Parallel Thinking?
"There is a tale from India about six blind men who wish to discover what an elephant is. Since none of then could see the animal, each one was given a different part to touch. The first man holds onto a leg and says an elephant is like a tree trunk. The second touches its tail and thinks an elephant is like a rope. The third holds its trunk and so says a snake; the fourth says a fan because he is touching an ear, the fifth feels the animal’s side and says a wall and the sixth likens the elephant’s tusk to a spear. The moral of the story is clear: each one of the men only hold a small part of the truth about an elephant and therefore in order to get a larger and more accurate perspective they needed to share that knowledge and listen to one another. That's what parallel thinking (or 6 hats thinking) is designed to do...."
I would say useing the Elephant analogy is better than using that of the house.This is because the house offers diffrent views, which is good, however the Elephant offers diffrent views of blind men on the animal. If they were asked why they said what they had said, they would be able to back up their argument and it's a much better way to use the six thinking hats i think.
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