Decision-making is a critical skill that helps students navigate their personal and academic lives. From resolving playground conflicts to deciding how to prioritize homework, understanding how choices lead to outcomes is essential. As educators, we can equip students with tools like decision trees and other visual aids to help them see the potential consequences of their actions and make thoughtful choices. In this post, we’ll explore how to use these tools in practical, engaging ways.
Why Teach Decision-Making with Visuals?
Teaching students how to break down decisions into manageable steps helps them feel confident in navigating challenges. Visual tools like decision trees are especially powerful because they make abstract concepts tangible.
By connecting decisions to consequences in a clear, structured way, students can better understand the impact of their choices and develop critical SEL skills like empathy, self-awareness, and responsible decision-making.
How to Use Decision Trees
A decision tree is a simple diagram that helps students map out choices and their potential outcomes. Here’s how you can create one:
- Start with a Question: Write the decision or problem at the root of the tree. For example, “Should I study for my math test or clean my room?”
- Branch Out Choices: Draw branches representing the possible options (e.g., study, clean my room, play video games).
- Add Potential Outcomes: For each choice, add branches showing short- and long-term consequences (e.g., “Feel prepared for the test” “Mom being mad my room is so messy”).
- Discuss and Reflect: Guide students to analyze the outcomes and consider which choice aligns best with their goals and values.
Example Scenario
- Problem: A student forgot their homework.
- Choices: (1) Copy your friends; (2) Tell the teacher you don't have your homework; (3) Try to rush through it.
- Outcomes: Explore the consequences of each choice, such as “Getting caught and losing trust,” “Feeling proud of earning an honest grade,” or “Having to explain to a teacher why my work is all wrong.”
More Decision Making Tools
Decision trees are a great starting point and there are other tools you can use to help students visualize their choices and consequences:
Consequence Matrix
What They Are: A grid that lists options and their impacts on specific values like time, fairness, or relationships, or their impact on specific people.
How to Use Them: Write the decision at the top and values along the side. Score each option based on how well it aligns with the values.
Example: Deciding how to spend recess time (playing a game, helping a friend, or finishing homework).
Scenario Mapping
What It Is: A flowchart showing how choices lead to different outcomes.
How to Use It: Start with a decision and map each step as a flowchart, including decision points where students revisit or change their choices.
Example: Deciding to go to a friend's house after school or help your aunt like your said you would.
If-Then Thinking
What It Is: A simple approach to linking actions with outcomes.
How to Use It: Prompt students to complete statements like “If I choose [action], then [outcome].”
Example: “If I speak up when I see someone being bullied, then...”
Tips for Teaching Decision Making Skills
Start with Relatable Scenarios
Use age-appropriate and familiar situations, like deciding how to handle a disagreement with a friend or whether to spend allowance money or save it.
Incorporate Group Work
Encourage students to work together on creating decision trees or mapping consequences. Group discussions often bring out diverse perspectives.
Scaffold the Process
Begin with simple scenarios and gradually increase nuance as students build confidence.
Encourage Reflection
After mapping consequences, ask students how their values influenced their decisions. This step helps them connect their choices to their personal goals and relationships.
Practical Applications for the Classroom
Small Group Discussion
Divide students into small groups and have them create decision trees for a given scenario from something they are reading.
Role-Playing Activities
Act out scenarios and pause to map out choices and consequences together. For example, role-play a situation where a student has to decide whether to stand up for a friend being teased.
Integrate into SEL Lessons
Use decision-making tools as part of broader SEL lessons on empathy, problem-solving, or relationships.
Connect to Real-World Topics
Tie activities to current events or school issues, like environmental responsibility (e.g., “Should we recycle more at school?”).
Teaching Decision Making
Teaching decision-making skills equips students with tools like decision trees to help them navigate choices and outcomes thoughtfully. By using tools like scenario maps, we can help students break down complex choices and think critically about their actions. Whether they’re navigating friendships, academics, or personal goals, these tools give them the confidence to make thoughtful, values-driven decisions.
Are you ready to try these tools in your classroom? Let me know how it goes or share your favorite strategies for teaching decision-making!
