Will a fat tax work?  Thinking Hat activity

I don’t want to overhype this but the Grocer magazine is brilliant for interesting business and economics articles. Some articles require a subscription but it might be worth it for interesting lesson starters.

Here is a fantastic article for debating the introduction of a fat tax to reduce health issues in the UK. I am going to use De Bono’s thinking hats activity to debate this topic in class.

One group will wear the red hat meaning they have to go on their gut reaction and not read the article. White Hat – This group will use the data to back up all of their opinions and look for more data to make a decision. (More data could be provided) Black hat – They get to think of all of the negative aspects of a fat tax. Yellow hat – Only positives of an introduction of a fat tax will be discussed by this group. Green hat – The final group will try to look for alternative methods of solving the problem.

Finally the groups will present their finding and a good class discuss should follow. This would be a perfect activity for year 10’s at the end of term or for a longer project style activity for returning year 12 students after their exams.