Learning Links
Career / Editing / Consumerism / Planning / Voting / Marriage / Jury Decisions / Legislation / Offense/Defense / Censorship / Feedback / Logic / Diagnosis
Demonstrators should be read from bottom to top, but need not be demonstrated sequentially.
Elementary Demonstrators
• Identify daily decisions.
• Make a decision from given options.
• Define a goal, gather information, and generate alternative solutions.
• Predict consequences for solutions.
• Analyze alternatives; make a decision.
Middle School Demonstrators
• Recognize options; gather information; propose alternative options.
• Predict consequences for solutions and establish evaluative criteria.
• Analyze and prioritize alternatives; select and defend a decision.
• Monitor the effectiveness of a decision over time.
High School Demonstrators
• Recognize options; gather information; propose alternative options.
• Predict and analyze consequences of options.
• Choose and defend an option; make a decision; monitor and adjust the effectiveness of a decision over time.
Sample Teaching/Assessment Strategies
Collaborative Process: Cooperative Learning / Community-Based Instruction: Mentoring/Apprenticeship/Co-op, Service Learning, Shadowing / Continuous Progress Assessment: Portfolio Development / Graphic Organizers: Advance Organizers, Compare/Contrast Structures, Flowchart, KWL, Outlining, Sequence Chain, Time Line, Storyboard, Mapping / Problem Solving: Inquiry, Heuristics, Brainstorming, Case Studies, Future Problem Solving, Debate, Interviews/Surveys/Polls / < b>Whole Language Approach / Writing Process
These sample strategies offer ideas and are not meant to limit teacher resourcefulness. More strategies are found in the resource section.
Ideas for Incorporating Community Resources
• Communicate with professors of philosophy about the role of logic in decision making.
• Invite a local physician to discuss decisions about diagnosis and treatment.
• Observe a local planning meeting to see how decisions are made.
Core Concept - Decision Making
Sample Elementary Activities
• Keep a journal for one week, noting decisions you made. Compile into a database of class decisions. Analyze alternative solutions which were made and could have been made. OE, P
• Establish a personal criteria for your toys. Evaluate the toys you currently want, using the criteria. Prioritize your list. OE, P
• Develop a list of books to purchase for your classroom. Consider your interest and those of your classmates. OE, P
Sample Middle School Activities
• Design a landscape plan for the entrance area to your school. Explain the decision for selecting the plants and their placement. PE, OE
• Research the position of two political candidates on an important issue. Determine which one to support and defend your choice. OE, P
• Investigate a variety of resources to develop criteria for making the best buy of a product you want. Apply the criteria in making the purchase. Evaluate your decision-making process to determine if you really made the "best buy." PE, OE
• Develop a weekly budget based on a given amount of money. Decide how much money is required to cover the expenses of lunch, school supplies, and extras. Use the budget for a week and evaluate the effectiveness of your budgeting decisions. PE, OE, P
Sample High School Activities
• Decide what kind of computer and software to purchase for your home which will interface with school technology and your projected needs. Create a priority purchasing plan based on budget and use. PE, OE, P
• Research the ingredients in several of your favorite "junk foods." Analyze the health effects of these ingredients, develop a priority chart of pleasures and risks involved in eating each food, and decide whether or not to continue eating it. Explain your choices in a piece developed for a portfolio. PE, OE, P
• Research the programs offered by several post-secondary institutions. Develop criteria to evaluate the institutions. Contact personnel at the institution, current and former students, and community people with knowledge about eh institution. Use the information gathered and criteria developed to decide which institution to attend. PE, OE, P
• Establish guidelines for selecting an automobile insurance company and decide on a company with which to insure your vehicle. Create criteria for judging your decision and evaluate it at regular intervals. PE, OE, P