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Try this idea in your classroom

Decision makers

This activity helps children to make sound decisions when given choices between two or more courses of action.

If you are interested in helping children to be independent learners, then this activity is for your classroom.

The need to make decisions can arise in any subject area, but especially in science, technology and social studies. Topics might include:

• Grades K-2:
  • What's the best animal to have as a pet? (Themes: caring for animals; needs and wants; living things; food and shelter)
• Grades 3-5:
  • Suppose your cat had climbed onto your roof. How would you help it down safely? (Themes: technology of simple machines; responsibility for others; also incorporates mathematics) More here
• Grades 3-8:
  • Your parents want to build a new house. Should it be made of timber, bricks, or something else? (Themes: technology of materials, conservation of resources, energy use; heat and insulation; safety) More here
• Grades 6-8:
  • What would you do if you were lost in the desert? (Themes: shelter, survival, use of map and compass; water cycle, condensation and evaporation; arid habitats) More here

Background

Making their own decisions builds confidence in learning, gives students a stake in their learning, and develops initiative and responsibility.

The strategy

By organizing the choices in the form of a table (or chart), students are able to compare alternatives easily and to make a logical decision.

For example, K-2 children can discuss animal needs using a table like this one:

What's the best animal to have as a pet?
	Dog	Goat	Goldfish
What do I feed it?
What shelter does it need?
Is it useful? How?
Is it friendly?
What if it gets sick?
Score:
Decision:

Older students (grades 3-8) could tackle a more complex issue using a similarly organized table. Three (or more) choices are arranged at the top (column headings), while aspects to be considered, such as cost, are listed down the left side (row headings):

Materials for an energy-efficient house
	Timber	Mud brick	Aluminum
cost to buy
insulation properties
effects on environment
maintenance
safety risks
Score:
Decision:

Rather than presenting older students with a ready-made table to be "filled in," help them to "build" the table, by drawing up the grid and the headings for themselves. Students should generate some of the choices and aspects to be considered. This can be worked on together as a whole class or small group.

Here is the same table after it has been almost completed:

Materials for an energy-efficient house
	Timber	Mud brick	Aluminum
cost to buy	less expensive than aluminum	nil cost if we make them	most expensive choice
insulation properties	insulates well in hot climate	retains heat in cold climate	poor insulation
effects on environment	depletes forests	materials taken from site only	high energy use in manufacture
maintenance	repaint or repair every 10 years	no need to paint; some repairs	very low maintenance
safety risks	fire risk; resists earthquakes	earthquake risk; resists fire	resists fire and earthquakes
Score:
Decision:

Now the students need to compare the choices systematically. Ask them to color (or mark in some other way) the most satisfactory choices for each aspect. For example in the first line "mud brick" was judged the cheapest "cost to buy". So the cell "nil cost if we make them" has been colored to indicate it is the cheapest choice.

Sometimes more than one choice needs to be marked as most satisfactory (as in "insulation properties").

Materials for an energy-efficient house
	Timber	Mud brick	Aluminum
cost to buy	less expensive than aluminum	nil cost if we make them	most expensive choice
insulation properties	insulates well in hot climate	retains heat in cold climate	poor insulation
effects on environment	depletes forests	materials taken from site only	high energy use in manufacture
maintenance	repaint or repair every 10 years	no need to paint; some repairs	very low maintenance
safety risks	fire risk; resists earthquakes	earthquake risk; resists fire	resists fire and earthquakes
Score:	1 point	3 points	2 points
Decision: Although timber is good for insulation, and aluminum is best for maintenance and safety, overall mud brick is cheapest, a good insulator, and has the least damage on the environment. Its weak point is maintenance but it is safe in a fire. Each material has advantages, but on balance mud brick, in our view, is the most suitable material for an energy-efficient house.

Finally, students simply add up the marked cells to "score" each choice. However, more important than scoring is being able to express why one choice is better than another, so leave plenty of space for students to explain their Decision.

Whatever topic you choose, the "decision-making" table will have the same structure:

Topic: what needs to be decided?
	Choice A	Choice B	Choice C
aspect 1
aspect 2
aspect 3
aspect 4
aspect 5
Score:
Decision:

Express the topic as a question to be decided. Working with the children, arrange the choices as column headings across the top of the table. Then list down the left side the aspects to be considered (that is, the questions that need to be asked in order to compare these choices fully).

Assessment

Questions to ask when assessing a "Decision makers" activity:

• Have children included a reasonable range of choices (not too many or too few)?
• Have most (if not all) cells been filled?
• Does the decision follow from the information collected in the cells?

Assessment sheets for tables can be photocopied from The Information Toolkit (any title or edition), page 39. These books also include assessment sheets for explanations, arguments, and discussions.

Why are we doing this?

• Allowing children to make decisions is a beneficial learning strategy. It builds confidence and motivates children who are not participating in traditional classroom activities.
• Decision-making in a team develops cooperative learning, social awareness and logical thinking.
• Using a table (or chart) to make a decision helps students:
  • to compare alternatives
  • to locate missing details to be checked or decided
  • to argue for, or explain, their decision
• Students can also use the table to prepare an argument (persuasive text) in favor of their decision. Using the row headings as paragraph topics, they can prepare a logically organized and reasoned case:  

Heading The Most Energy-efficient Material for a House is — Paragraph 1 (brief summary of choices) If we compare timber, mud brick and aluminum, it seems to us that ... Paragraph 2 Comparing these materials for cost, ... Paragraph 3 Next, if we look at insulation, ... Paragraph 4 Environmental effects ... Paragraph 5 Some of these materials are easier to maintain than others. For example, ... Paragraph 6 Finally, turning to safety, ... Conclusion [This is the same as the "Decision" section in the table.]

Resources

A lesson plan based on this strategy can be found in The Information Toolkit, Book B, pages 104-7.

More about tables (charts) can be found here.

Other examples of tables can be found in:

The Information Toolkit page 38

Show Me! page 38

I See What You Mean, pages 107–118.

 

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