Southern New Hampshire University
CJ-207 The United States Judicial System
InfoBase Learning Class Notes
Responsible Decision-Making
Learn It
A. Introduction
MAKING MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS
All learners, whether they're 5 or 75, bring their own prior experiences, personalized knowledge
bases, filters, biases, and priorities to every situation they encounter and hopefully they learn to
make meaningful connections between the different bits of content and skills they collect.
Because the power of learning lies in creating those connections, helping students make
significant and personally relevant connections is one of the teacher's most important roles.
Effective teachers apply what they know about schema theory to help students connect what they
know to what they're being asked to learn. Effective teachers also help learners create
connections across the curriculum, even if doing so takes them beyond their teaching fields.
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Remember that adage?
It has applications in many areas, including the components of social-emotional learning. But we
can only see the whole when we succeed in making meaningful connections between the
different components. In this module, we begin by connecting the different components of
social-emotional learning for both you and your students.
CONNECTING THE COMPONENTS OF SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING
There are many ways to think about and organize the different components of social-emotional
learning. The Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning's concentric circles
model offers one way to view the different SEL components.
But of course, it's not the only way.
As an educational leader, you are able to make decisions about how best to present SEL to your
students, knowing what you do about them, and their prior knowledge and experiences. For
instance, human nature being what it is, young learners and perhaps most learners are egocentric.
So in introducing students to SEL, you might decide to begin with the two components that
feature an internal focus: self-awareness and self-management. From there, you could move on
to the SEL components that feature an external focus: social awareness and relationship skills.
Typically, self-awareness skills help or hinder learners in their attempts to apply social
awareness skills. For example, it's difficult to understand what others might be feeling and
express empathy for them if students have difficulty identifying their own emotions. And, if
learners have a negative self-image, limited self-confidence, and cannot name one thing they like
about themselves, they are unlikely to appreciate the strengths others have and respect them as
individuals. We can draw similar parallels between self-management and relationship skills. If
students struggle to manage their own emotions and behaviors and are unsuccessful in their
attempts to set and achieve personal goals, then they are likely to struggle to build healthy
relationships and work well with others. In other words, the better learners know themselves and
the more they take responsibility for their own actions the more likely they are to play nicely
with others. Responsible decision-making serves as the capstone for SEL's internal and external
components. Without it, SEL falls short of its intended mark. The knowledge, skills, and
attitudes associated with each of the other SEL components are all tools students must put to use
in order to achieve their intended purpose. Responsible decision-making provides that purpose
because it requires learners to integrate all the other SEL components and apply them to a
specific situation.
RESPONSIBLE DECISION-MAKING
Responsible decision-making is the ability to make constructive choices about personal behavior
and social interactions based on ethical standards, safety concerns, and social norms.
As students engage in responsible decision-making, they identify personal, social, or academic
problems and then develop appropriate solutions to those problems.
At each step of the process, they have opportunities to apply their knowledge and skills in the
area of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship skills.
Responsible decision-making also includes the realistic evaluation of consequences of various
actions and a consideration of the well-being of self and others.
When evaluating possible ideas and solutions, students consider variables such as respect for
others, safety, and ethics.
Responsible decision-making includes the following components: identifying problems,
analyzing situations, solving problems, evaluating, reflecting, ethical responsibility. Later in this
module, we will focus on each of these six components. For now, think about specific SEL skills
and actions that come to mind as you review the list of responsible decision-making components.
For example, before students can solve a problem, they first must be aware that a problem exists.
And, as they brainstorm possible solutions, they need to consider how those solutions will affect
others. They also need to make sure that their solutions don't create new and different problems.
Other times, students may know they have a problem, but they don't know what to do about it.
Such was the case with an adolescent who was meeting with his teacher to discuss a mid-term
evaluation.
His comments revealed that he was painfully aware of the problem. I know I'm socially
awkward. I've known that for a long-time. I just don't seem to be able to do anything about it.
Obviously, the student exhibited some of the skills of self-awareness.
For example, he accurately identified one of his limitations and recognized that it negatively
affected his self-confidence and his performance in other areas. However, once he identified that
limitation, his reflections did not lead to ideas about what he could do to address the limitation
and how he could become more comfortable and skilled in social interactions. What does the
student need to do next? What do you do to help him move forward?
By the way, students don't need to have a problem to use responsible decision-making. It's
equally important to identify opportunities, analyze, the strengths and weaknesses of different
opportunities, determine the most important variables to consider, and then evaluate the pros and
cons of a variety of options by weighing them against the most important variables or criteria.
For example, think about a high school student who was considering his options for post-
secondary education.
In his junior year of high school, a nearby university offered Andréas a full scholarship in
computer engineering. Before receiving that offer, he had been leaning toward a major in
chemistry which was one of his passions. However, colleges and universities were not lining up
to offer him a chemistry scholarship. So, he decided to accept the scholarship and major in
computer engineering. Andréas did well in his course work, completed his program of study, and
had no trouble getting a job in his field. However, a few years later, he went back to college to
complete an undergraduate degree in chemistry. Then he went on to complete a master’s degree
in chemistry - a field in which he is still employed several years later. In hindsight, maybe the
scholarship wasn't the most important variable Andréas should have considered in deciding to
major in computer engineering.
B. What Makes Decision-Making Responsible?
INTELLIGENT RISK-TAKING
Remember your adolescent years? If not, perhaps it's because you prefer to engage in some
selective forgetting when it comes to that period of development. According to the social
neuroscience perspective of adolescent risk-taking, risk-taking increases between childhood and
adolescence. That's not exactly a news flash. Changes that occur in the brain's socio-emotional
system during puberty lead to increases in reward-seeking, especially in the presence of peers.
There once was a middle school student who sometimes engaged in socially inappropriate
behavior in class. When called out on that behavior, her go to response was "It's not my fault. It's
my hormones." Perhaps she's still using that excuse now that she's approaching middle age? The
typical adolescent graduates from high school at the age of 18. From there, many attend college,
some take on full-time jobs, and others can marry. Legally they're viewed as adults, except for
the part about drinking alcoholic beverages. However, biologically, 18-year-olds are not yet
grown-up. Their brains are still a work-in-progress and only 80% developed. In fact, brain
development continues well into their twenties and the frontal lobe, which plays a key role in
handling emotions and assessing risks, is the last part of the brain to fully develop. That's why
we say survive to 25.
Extra unconnected synapses in the frontal lobe seem to block some adolescent's abilities to
exercise sound judgment and self-control and make rational and disciplined decisions. As a
result, adolescents often engage in what adults would label as risky behavior and tend to make
bad decisions. It appears some adolescents view themselves as invincible, indestructible, and
immune to bodily harm, and other consequences of their impulsive behavior. Eventually, risk-
taking declines between adolescence and adulthood when changes in the brain's cognitive control
system result in improved capacity for self-regulation. The ambiguity of the timing of these
changes makes mid- adolescence a bit of a roller coaster ride, complete with reckless behavior
and misguided decisions.
RESPONSIBLE DECISION-MAKING AND ADOLESCENTS
Of course, not all risk-taking is reckless. The key is to help learners distinguish between
intelligent risks and unwise risks.
For example, whenever we try new things, we're taking risks and we might make mistakes. But
those are naturally occurring parts of the learning process. That's why if we're not making
mistakes occasionally, we're probably not learning anything new. Mistake making can lead us to
the next great thing and new inventions if we learn from our mistakes rather than toss them aside.
Perhaps you're familiar this book entitled The Most Magnificent Thing.
It's young inventor and her dog persevere to fail their way to success by creating the most
magnificent thing of all. Risk aversion can cause us to miss out on new adventures and
opportunities that may not present themselves again soon. The main character in Yamada and
Besom's What Do You Do with a Chance learns that important lesson through first-hand
experience. Responsible decision-making has a role to play in helping learners determine if a
particular course of action constitutes an intelligent risk or simply a misguided next step.
However, we need to create opportunities for students to apply decision-making processes to a
variety of context.
Sometimes we neglect to emphasize that decision-making isn't just for academic or work
settings. Students also can, and should, apply decision-making processes to problems,
opportunities, and situations in their personal lives. Teachers sometimes observe that students
make good decisions academically, but they don't apply sound decision-making skills to their
social lives. For example, there was Sarah, an academically gifted student who typically
succeeded at balancing her academic responsibilities with a full slate of extra-curricular activities
by making good decisions regarding her priorities. However, as she began high school, Sarah
struggled as many girls do to make good decisions in her personal life, particularly when it came
to dating. Sarah was dating a person in her class who was also academically capable, however,
he did not excel in intelligent risk-taking. Despite their unhealthy and dangerous decisions, Sarah
continued to date him for several months. What caused her to make the decision to stay with
him? Or perhaps it was simply a non-decision? That situation illustrates that responsible
decision-making is helped or hindered by other components of social-emotional learning such as
self-awareness and self-confidence.
C. The Components of Responsible Decision-Making
IDENTIFYING PROBLEMS AND ANALYZING SITUATIONS
The first component of the responsible decision-making process is identifying the problem.
People tend to do three things when faced with the problem. They experience discomfort and just
wish the problem would go away. They think they must come up with an answer and it has to be
the right answer. And they look for someone to blame. However, social emotional learning
suggests that there are healthier approaches which will explore here.
If we've been paying attention, then we know that life teaches us that problems come in a variety
of shapes and sizes. For example, focusing on automobiles, we can use the word "problem" to
include. A car breaks down. Not being able to drive children to school when there's no other
transportation. Locking your keys inside the car.
A backseat driver. Not being able to afford a car.
Paying for car insurance. The goal of a good problem-solving process is to make us more
conflict friendly and conflict competent. Because people are born problem solvers, the greatest
challenge is to overcome the tendency to come up with a solution immediately. That's a mistake
because the solution needs to be determined at the end of the process not at the beginning. When
analyzing the situation and considering possible solutions, the challenge is to defer judgment.
Yamada and Besom's book "What Do You Do With a Problem," offers younger learners
additional points to consider when they're faced with a problem. Another challenge at the
problem identification stage is to make sure we point at the actual problem rather than a
symptom of the problem or something other than the most immediate problem. For instance,
returning to the car example when they lock their keys in the car, some people would identify the
problem as needing to get in the car so they can get to the keys. However, that might not be the
most immediate problem. If they're running late for a job interview, then maybe the first problem
they need to address is how to get to the interview on-time. If they ask that question - "how can I
get to my interview on time?" rather than asking, "how do I get in the car," then they can
consider additional alternatives, such as calling a cab or Uber, asking a friend for a ride, or
locating a second set car keys. There are several techniques that can be applied when analyzing
situations. First, as mentioned earlier in this module, we need to identify our priorities. Suppose
the problem is overspending in the school budget. There are many expenditures included in the
school budget. Some spending may be cutback easily or other items cannot be reduced without
hitting significant pain points.
For example, before the use of course websites became common place perhaps you can recollect
times when the principal announced that "we're spending way too much on copies!" As a teacher,
maybe you found the cutbacks frustrating because you like to include several handouts for
students and their families. Although budgetary constraints forced you to change your practice,
that was a better alternative than staff reductions. The heart of problem analysis is studying the
symptoms to find the causes. Before acting, the symptoms must be distinguished from the
causes.
For example, is a headache problem, or is it a symptom of a more serious illness? Often the
absence of a symptom may be just as significant as its presence. If a student has a headache
Monday through Friday but not on Saturdays and Sundays, the timing of the headaches may
provide a clue to their cause. We offer one final bit of advice here, it's no use spending many
days solving a tiny problem of little consequence when there's a big problem to solve that
demands an effective solution. This reminder is often expressed as an eighty twenty rule and is
also known as the Pareto Principle. For our purposes, it simply means that some problems do not
require the forming of an ad-hoc committee to study the situation for six months and then
propose a solution. Here we pause to insert the cautionary observation made by Sir Barnett
Cocks: "A committee is a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured and then quietly strangled.
And now we offer an all-too-real example of a one-off situation being viewed as an
organizational problem. Let's suppose that one staff member has been bringing her dog to work
on a regular basis and this dog is a family pet rather than a service dog. Instead of drafting an
official organizational policy on bringing pets to work, perhaps a more appropriate first step
would be for the employee's supervisor to have a conversation with her about making other
arrangements for the dog, thereby addressing the problem. Sometimes commonsense is all to
uncommon.
SOLVING PROBLEMS AND EVALUATING
In some situations, the cause of the problem is known. If that is the case, then the question is
simply what to do about it. An example of this type of problem is when your car slides off the
road and into the ditch while you are attempting to negotiate an icy off ramp. You're not
interested in analyzing how you ended up in the ditch. As the driver, obviously know how you
got there; you just want to get you in your car out of the ditch. Various approaches exist for
developing alternatives for addressing problems. Brainstorming is one such approach. Alex
Osborn, known as the father of brainstorming, observed that "it is easier to tone down a wild idea
than to think up a new one." But we only get those wild ideas by coming up with many ideas.
What we need are options to choose from - there's always another way if only we can find it, and
there's always another idea if we can just think of it!
Once we've generated several possible solutions, then we need to select one.
After all, a fair idea put to use is better than a good idea kept on the finishing wheel. Choosing
between alternatives can involve. Technical factors such as costs.
Human factors, such as who would be involved in the decision-making? Who needs to accept it?
And risks, such as how can uncertainty be allowed? What can go wrong?
What monitoring needs to be done? What contingency plans should be prepared?
As we evaluate the merits of different ideas, we need to make sure we first determine what
variables are the most important to consider. For example, you might find CARTS approach
helpful to you and your students as you decide which evaluation criteria to use. CARTS stands
for cost, acceptance, resources, time, and space. There are many ways to evaluate the worth an
idea. However, quite often solutions offered of the immediate, obvious, knee-jerk variety. In
addition to being inappropriate, at best they are ineffective. What's worse, they often lead to
bigger problems. Problem solvers need and independent spirit and must be prepared to argue a
case with defensible rationales - especially if solutions are time-consuming or come with
significant costs.
It's wise to ensure that the solutions being advocated are the most appropriate and the most
effective. There's no shortage of resources available to assist with decision making and problem
solving.
For example, decision making tools, such as weighted points and decision trees, involve setting
out the facts in a logical way so that the overall decision is made because of many minor ones.
As you look for resources related to generating ideas, and uncovering solutions, and making
decisions, remember that the business section of the bookstore has nothing over children's
literature. For example, a picture book such as Yamada and Besom's "What Do You Do With An
Idea" can serve as an effective tool to remind young, and not so young, learners about the
importance of nurturing ideas and being willing to consider new and different ideas.
REFLECTING AND ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITY
Reflecting is also part of responsible decision-making. Once we've tackled a problem, what can
we learn from it? And what can we do to prevent similar problems from occurring in the future?
Just as important, once we've made a decision, how will we determine if it is effective? How will
we know what worked and what did not work? It's also important to reflect on the decision-
making process itself. Did we climb inside a problem, view it from every possible perspective,
experience it and understand it before trying to solve it? Were we willing to consider alternative
points of view and the worth of every idea - even the ones we didn't think of?
Our reflections could be guided by the following attributes of effective decision-making.
Effective decision-making. Focuses on the most important variables. Is logical and consistent.
Acknowledges both subjective and objective factors. Blends analytical and intuitive thinking.
Requires only the information analysis that's necessary to resolve a problem. Encourages and
guides the collecting of relevant information and informed opinions. Relies on straight forward
easy to use and flexible steps and processes.
And, of course, the decision-making process should not be more complicated than the problem
itself! Ethical responsibility entails a set of standards for behavior that help us decide how we
ought to act in a range of situations. In a sense, ethics is all about making choices and providing
reasons to explain the choices we make. When making ethical responsible decisions, you may
find the following steps helpful.
Number one, recognize an ethical issue. The most important thing to do at the beginning of
ethical deliberation is to locate, to the extent possible, the ethical aspects of the issue at hand.
Sometimes what appears to be an ethical dispute is really a dispute about facts or concepts.
For example, some individuals might argue that the death penalty is ethical because it deters
crime and thus produces the greatest amount of good but the least harm.
However, others might argue that the death penalty does not deter crime and thus produces more
harm than good. The argument here is over which facts support the morality of a particular
action not simply over the morality of the principles. Number two, consider the parties involved.
Another important aspect of decision-making is to reflect upon the various individuals and
groups who may be affected by your decision. Consider who might be harmed or who might
benefit. Three, gather the relevant information. Before acting, it's a good idea to make sure that
you have gathered all the pertinent information, that you have tapped all potential sources of
information.
Four, formulate actions and consider alternatives.
Evaluate your decision-making by asking the following questions. Which action will do the best
and do the least harm? Which action respects the rights of all have a stake in the decision? Which
action treats people equally proportionately? Which action serves the community not just some
members? Which action leads me to act as the sort of person I should be? Number five, make
decisions.
After examining all the potential actions, determine which action best addresses the situation.
Ask: how do I feel about my choice?
Six, act. Many ethical decisions cause us discomfort, because rarely do we have all the
information we would like to have. However, we still must act.
Seven, reflect on the outcome. Reflection is an important, but sometimes overlooked part of the
decision-making process.
However, both current and future decisions may benefit from asking and answering questions
such as these: what were the results of my decision? What were the intended and unintended
consequences? Would I change anything now that I've seen the consequences?
Making ethical decisions requires sensitivity to the ethical implications of problems and
situations. It also requires practice.
D. Strategies for Classroom Integration of Responsible Decision-Making
METACOGNITION
A simple definition of metacognition is thinking about thinking.
Learners engage in metacognition when they think about their own thinking processes and
choose learning strategies that are appropriate for specific tasks.
For example, teachers may be required to record their own teaching and then write a self-
assessment in which they analyze their teaching performance, cite strengths, and describe
how they would modify their teaching strategies. This would require metacognition! Given
the appropriate learning situation, students could also engage in this process of self-
assessment after being recorded when sharing a presentation on a specific topic. Then, the
students would write a self-assessment focusing on their strengths and needs for
improvement. This type of assessment would require students to demonstrate their
metacognition skills and strategies. Metacognition has two main components. The first
component is knowledge about cognition - the information and understanding learners have
of their own thinking processes and their knowledge of various learning strategies to use
situations. The second component of metacognition is cognitive monitoring - learner's ability
to select, use, and monitor learning strategies that complement their learning styles.
What is the significance of metacognition? It enables learners to monitor their own learning,
analyze their own miscues, and make their own predictions. Learners who can use
metacognitive skills and strategies can take responsibility for their own learning. Once they
are aware of their cognitive style and the different ways the approach different tasks, learners
can use that information to make decisions about how to structure and organize feature
learning situations.
Supporting learners' development of metacognition assists them in connecting their
knowledge, skills, dispositions, memories, and experiences.
Engaging in medical addition can greatly enhance students' ability to develop deep and
essential understandings across all content areas. Teachers can use think-alouds to model
metacognitive strategies. A think-aloud is a strategy, designed to make observable the
thinking processes involved in a particular task.
Teachers often use think-alouds to model for their students the cognitive strategies they use
to solve complicated problems with many steps.
CREATIVE THINKING
In addition to metacognition, there are other types of thinking including critical thinking
creative thinking, and productive thinking. In this movie, the focus is on creative thinking.
Creative thinking is a way of looking at a problem or situation from a fresh perspective that
suggests unorthodox solutions. Emile Chartier, a prominent philosopher, once reflected that
"Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it is the only one you have." If individuals
believe they have no other viable options, when trying to solve a problem, they often resort to
violence or substance abuse. People who don't take the time to make the effort to consider
alternative perspectives and viewpoints only see one way to do things.
Why is it that formal schooling sometimes places great emphasis and value on finding one
right answer? Even though many questions still have one right answer, such as, what is the
capital Florida? or What's four plus four? Many other questions have a variety of possible
answers and require innovation and different ways of thinking. In fact, most of life's
important questions don't just have one right answer such as, how can we break the cycle
child abuse? and how can we feed the hungry?
Creative thinking requires that learners develop multiple perspectives. Creative thinking
maybe described as the germinal, divergent phase of thinking. Divergent thinking is the
process of generating ideas, making new connections, perceiving gaps, and identifying
paradoxes. Divergent or creative thinking also imagining many new and unusual
possibilities, thinking, and experiencing in varied ways, considering different viewpoints, and
elaborating on the alternatives. One example of a creative thinking strategy is brainstorming.
BRAINSTORMING
Brainstorming is a creative thinking strategy that you probably have used, even if you didn't
call it brainstorming. If utilized appropriately, brainstorming can facilitate the generation of
ideas. When using brainstorming strategy with learners - whether adults or younger learners -
we recommend that you review the following guidelines for brainstorming. Produce many
ideas. This is the principal idea behind brainstorming. The purpose of brainstorming is to
produce as many ideas as you can that are related to a particular topic. Even if you don't think
an idea is very creative, say it anyway. When brainstorming, it's important to go beyond the
first twenty to twenty-five ideas, which are often quite common. Produce a unusual ideas.
Once learners have gotten past the ordinary, they can begin to generate unusual ideas that are
more original, unique, and novel. Humor and playfulness often facilitate the creation of
unusual ideas.
Hitch a ride on other ideas. Build on existing ideas, whether they are yours or someone else's.
Explain that hitching a ride or piggybacking on another person's idea is not copying or
cheating, but a great way to think of more ideas. Defer judgment. Judging and evaluating the
worth of an idea at this stage interferes with the purpose of brainstorming, which is the
production of many ideas - regardless of their quality. Deferring judgment means that you
wait until a later time to judge both the merits and the demerits of ideas. Stay on task.
Brainstorming is not the time to analyze the economy, examine the pros and cons of daylight
savings time, or discuss your plans for later in the day. Off task talk gets in the way of
producing relevant ideas.
When teaching a group of kindergarteners, a teacher began each new topic or theme of study
with a brainstorming session so the children could share their ideas. She would write the
topic or theme at the top of language chart, and then record the children's ideas so they could
connect the words and letters with their responses. At one point, the entire k through eight
school was required to develop a unit on aviation.
The kindergarten teacher found this a bit troubling, considering her student population.
However, she began with the topic theme flying things and was amazed at the ideas that her
kindergartners generated. Among other things, they suggested that airplanes, rockets,
Superman, and other superheroes all fly. Then one of the children said matter-of-factly, "time
flies." Now there's the person you want on your team when it comes to generating ideas and
possible solutions!
INQUIRY LEARNING
The Suchman Inquiry model is an approach for teaching problem solving through discovery
and questioning. It's based on the belief that the strategies scientists use to solve problems
and explore the unknown can be taught and learned and that people learn best when they're
focused on topics that puzzle and intrigue them. Generally, any problem-solving attempt
begins with the recognition that a problem exists and that there's a willingness to accept the
challenge of finding solutions. The next steps typically involve gathering information
through questioning and research, forming hypotheses, and testing possible solutions in a
variety of contexts. A combination of individual and cooperative efforts often benefits the
problem-solving process. Problem solving, in turn, offers benefits to learners and to the
teaching learning process. Those potential benefits include shift a from extrinsic to intrinsic
rewards and learning the heuristics of discovery. The Suchman Inquiry Model typically
includes the following steps and requires decision-making at each step of the process.
Select a problem and conduct research. Introduce the process and present the problem.
Gather data.
Develop a theory and verify or disprove it. State the rules and explain the theory. Analyze the
process. Evaluate the process and result.
CREATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING
Creating problem-solving or CPS, as its name signifies, is another approach to problem
solving. CPS is a systematic process for approaching a problem in an imaginative way that
will result in effective action.
CPS can be analyzed at several different levels. The most general level includes three
components: understanding the problem, generating ideas, and planning for action. Although
earlier versions of CPS were more linear, the CPS components don't necessarily happen in
any order. Because CPS is situational, the sequence of components and the time spent on
each component depend on the situation and the problem being addressed. Each CPS
component include specific stages, and each of those stages, in turn, has two phases:
diversion and convergent thinking. The goal of divergent, or soft, thinking is the production
and generation of many unusual options, whereas the goal of convergent, or hard, thinking is
the analysis, evaluation, development, and refinement of the ideas generated from divergent
thinking. Creative problem solving includes the following three components: number one,
understanding the problem.
This component includes the three stages of the miss finding, data finding, and problem
finding. Before a problem can be solved, someone must first recognize that it exists.
Someone must notice that there's a problem in need of attention; this is what "mess finding"
refers to. They must locate as much information as they can that relates to the particular
"mess" (data finding).
This information may come in a variety of forms, including facts, opinions, observations,
testimonials, and artifacts. Next, they must formulate a problem statement that addresses the
most immediate need or primary problem. Number two, generating ideas. This is the CPS
component that features idea finding. Having already developed a clear and precise problem
statement, here the focus changes to producing many ideas for consideration as possible
solutions.
Although brainstorming and divergent thinking play key roles in all stages of CPS, during the
idea-finding stage they take center stage.
Here, the admonition to defer judgment should be heeded, as the purpose of idea generation
is produced as many ideas as possible and, in the process, avoid mental ruts and tunnel
vision.
Number three, planning for action.
This component include solution finding acceptance finding.
First, assuming the role of Judge, problem solvers evaluate the ideas they've generated using
the predetermined criteria they've developed for that purpose. However, having a workable or
even a great idea is insufficient. Many great ideas never see the light of day. That's why
problem solvers must assume the Warrior role, as they move on to the acceptance-finding
stage. Acceptance finding involves marketing the agreed upon solution - "selling it" to the
"consumers," or the people whose approval and cooperation are needed for implementation.
COOPERATIVE LEARNING
Deming, who introduced the concept of Total Quality Management, estimated that eighty
five percent of people's behavior is attributable to the environment in which they operate.
This implies that changing the environment in which people operate also change their
behavior.
The interaction patterns utilized within organizations play dominant roles in shaping those
environments, and consequently the behavior of the people within those environments. When
individuals must compete for limited resources, competitive interaction patterns result.
In competitive environments, typically there are a few winners and many losers. When
people act on their own behalf with little or no regard for what others are doing,
individualistic interaction patterns result.
In individualistic environments, members have little motivation to collaborate. By contrast,
when the successive one individual is tied to that of other organization members, cooperative
interaction patterns result. In cooperative environments, members collaborate for the purpose
of achieving mutual goals. James Watson co- discoverer of the double helix and a Nobel
Prize winner, once said, "Nothing new that is really interesting comes without collaboration."
Vygotsky, an eminent Russian psychologist, reflected, "What children can do together today,
they can do alone tomorrow." Cooperative learning is an instructional approach that both
Watson and Vygotsky could advocate.
Its purpose is to make group members stronger as individuals.
What cooperative learning is and is not. Cooperative learning is many things: positive
interdependence, individual accountability, collaboration skills, and heterogeneous grouping.
There are also some things cooperative learning is not: it's not new, it's not magic, it cannot
be used entirely by itself, it cannot be learned all at once, and it cannot be used all the time.
Teachers who overlook some of the "nots" associated with cooperative learning may also
overlook some potential problems and challenges. including students' or teachers'
inexperience with cooperative learning, cultural differences, students being unfamiliar with
one another, group size, or physical proximity, an uninteresting or artificial cooperative task,
satiation with a task, lack of task completion, or need to increased motivation in the direction
of the task.
Cooperative learning can be used effectively at all grade levels, in every subject area, and
with any task.
Is a generic human endeavor that affects many different instructional outcomes
simultaneously. Five elements are essential to cooperative learning.
Number one, face-to-face promoted interaction is the term used to describe cooperative
learning's emphasis on students' helping, assisting, supporting, encouraging, and praising one
another's efforts to learn.
This element includes orally explaining how to solve problems, discussing concepts being
learned, teaching knowledge to group members, and connecting past and present learning.
Two, individual accountability. Individual accountability implies that each individual's
performance is evaluated, and the results are given to the individual as well as to the group.
Consequently, members of cooperative learning groups know who needs more assistance,
support, and encouragement and that they can't glide by on the work of others.
Interpersonal and small group skills, in the form of both task work and teamwork, are
essential elements in cooperative learning. Students must engage in both simultaneously.
Therefore, teachers must facilitate learners' acquisition of social skills for high-quality
cooperation, as well as their leadership, decision-making, trust-building, communicating, and
conflict management skills. Number four, group processing is another essential element of
cooperative learning. Group members discuss the degree to which they're achieving their
goals and maintaining effective working relationships. They also describe what actions are
helpful and unhelpful and make decisions about what behaviors to continue or change.
Number five, positive interdependence is the most important element and the heart of
cooperative learning. When engaged in cooperative learning tasks, students must understand
that they sink or swim together, one cannot succeed unless everyone succeeds.
There are three steps to fostering positive interdependence. One, assign the group a clear
measurable task.
Two, create positive goal interdependence. That is, make it clear that individual members can
attain their goals only if the group retains its goals. This ensures that the group is united
around a common goal.
And, three, supplement positive goal interdependence with other kinds of positive
interdependence such as role interdependence, which is created when group members have
complementary interconnected roles, such as reader recorder or reporter; resource
interdependence, sometimes refer to as a Jigsaw in which group members might need to
share one set of materials and subdivide them so each member is responsible for certain part;
task interdependence, where a division of labor is created and the actions of one group
member must be completed if the next group member is to complete his or her
responsibilities; and reward interdependence, were group members learn new material
together, are assessed individually, and then are rewarded on the basis of a performance ratio,
such as fifty percent credit for every problem they solve correctly and fifty percent of the
group members' average performance.
SIMULATION
If you're ever tempted to doubt the significance of simulations as an instructional strategy,
consider the flight simulator or simulated automobile - it's better to crash virtually!
Simulations offer learners the advantage of beginning with simple tasks and progressing
safely to more complex tasks.
The simulation model allows students to learn from self-generated feedback, by playing out
specific situations within a controlled environment and then modifying their behavior based
on their reactions and performances. Carefully planned, well-organized simulations can be
used successfully with learners of almost any age. Of course, teachers must design
simulations that are appropriate for their students' learning needs and developmental levels.
Younger learners typically need more structure and simpler simulations than older learners
do. For example, middle school students could participate in a collective bargaining
simulation to apply concepts they've learned about as well as practice their communication
and negotiation skills.
To connect simulations with specific content students are learning, teachers can place them
within a particular context. A teacher could connect the collective bargaining simulation with
history content by telling students to imagine their negotiations are taking place during that
period when the transcontinental railroad was built. Students could then speculate how
history might have been different had laborers who worked on the transcontinental railroad
engaged in collective bargaining to improve their salary, benefits, and working conditions.
The simulation model typically includes the following steps.
One, orientation. Teachers begin by presenting the simulation's topic and the concepts it
incorporates. They then explain the simulation process and provide an overview of it.
Two, participant briefing. In the second phase, teachers describe the scenario for the
simulation. They also explain the rules and procedures of the simulation and discuss the roles
and goals of simulation participants and the types of decisions they will make. Finally, they
assign roles and hold a brief practice session.
Three, simulation operations. Teachers are now ready to conduct and administer the
simulation activity. This phase includes making observations, collecting feedback, evaluating
performance, assessing the effects of participants' decisions, and clarifying misconceptions as
the simulation progresses. And four, participant debriefing. Without this fourth and final
phase, the simulation model offers only an activity or source of entertainment and falls short
of serving as an instructional strategy. The debriefing stage provides a forum for participants
to summarize what happened and to share their perceptions of those events. It also permits
teachers and students to summarize challenges they encountered in participating in the
simulation and insights it gave them, to analyze the processes the simulation involved, to
compare the simulation to the real-world, to connect the activity to course content, and to
evaluate and modify the simulation. Teachers who use simulations as an instructional
approach playing four different roles. First, teachers must clearly explain the simulations
rules and procedures. Two, teachers’ function is referees. They must ensure that students
follow the rules and procedures that have been established and communicated for a particular
simulation. Three, teacher serve as coaches. As necessary, they offer simulation participants
advice designed to help them play better. And four, teachers play the role of discussants. As
indicated previously, simulations are incomplete they don't include a debriefing component.
THE PROJECT APPROACH
A project, as defined by Katz, is in-depth investigation of a topic worth learning more about.
The investigation is usually undertaken by a small group of learners within a class,
sometimes by a whole class, and occasionally by an individual child.
The key feature of a project is that it is a research effort deliberately focused on finding
answers to questions about a topic post either by learners, the teacher, or the teacher working
with the learners. The goal of the project is to learn more about the topic rather than to seek
right answers to questions posed by the teacher. The following theoretical underpinnings
serve as the rationale for and foundation of the project approach.
One: learners need to make sense of their world.
Two: horizontal relevance is more important than vertical articulation. Perhaps you recall
that horizontal relevance refers to how concepts and topics relate to each other within the
same grade level, and vertical articulation refers to how concepts and topics at one grade
level related to concepts and topics at different grade levels. For advocates of the project
approach, focusing on what students are learning is more important than getting students
ready for the next grade.
Three: learners need to develop a disposition of in-depth study.
Four: an extended period is needed to enable learners to wrap their minds around a topic.
Five: play is a natural way for children to learn, because children are natural born
anthropologists. Six: learners need opportunities to experience real environments. Seven:
learners need opportunities to apply skills in meaningful ways.
Eight: learners need a continuity of experiences to develop social competence. The phases of
a project. In the getting started phase of a project, learners and teacher devote several
discussion periods to selecting and refining the topic to be investigated. The topic maybe
proposed by a learner or by the teacher. Once the topic has been selected, teachers usually
begin by making a web or concept map based on a brainstorming session with students.
These webs are displayed in the classroom throughout the project and provide a framework
for designing the project investigation, as well as selecting specific activities and
documentation efforts.
Phase two focuses on field work and features direct investigation, which often includes field
trips to investigate sites, objects, or events. In this space, which is the heart of the project
work, learners are investigating, drawing from observation, constructing models, observing
closely, recording findings, exploring, predicting, discussing, and dramatize ing their new
understandings. Phase three: culminating and debriefing events include students preparing
and presenting reports on the results in the forms of displays of findings and artifacts, talks,
dramatic presentations, or guided tours of their constructions. This phase emphasizes the
development of documentation. Selecting appropriate topics. Katz and Chard emphasize the
differences between decontextualized teaching and project work. In project work, the course
of the project is negotiated by the learners and the teacher. Activities are focused on
investigation and directed by a research question or narrative. Katz and Chard warned that
limited topics that do not relate to learners’ daily life experiences often result in learners
studying unrelated and unfamiliar material. Selecting topics is an important dimension of
integrating curricula. Several considerations come into play. Topics should relate to learners
every day first-hand personal experiences. Allow for the integration of range of subjects for
disciplines, provide for the study of objects or phenomena that are real that will be useful
later in life experiences, and that are worth spending time to investigate, and incorporate
opportunities for problem-solving, investigation, collection, cooperation, construction,
creation, and dramatic play.
E. Conclusion
INTEGRATING RESPONSIBLE DECISION-MAKING INTO THE TEACHING/LEARNING
PROCESS
As the many different strategies profiled in this module suggest, there's more than one right way
to approach responsible decision-making. About the only way we can get it wrong altogether is
to ignore it all together. Things as simple as allowing students to make choices and to be active
participants in their own learning contribute to the long-term goal of nurturing their decision-
making skills. However, not every student will thank you for providing opportunities for them to
make decisions about their own learning. Consider Brian. As a third grader, he approached his
teacher with a serious look and a wringing of hands to ask, "Do you want me to use a pen or a
pencil?" When the teachers one-word answer was "yes" delivered with a smile, Brian did not
take the ambiguity in stride.
So, his teacher went on to explain that she really didn't care whether he used a pen or pencil to
write his paper. She wanted Brian to decide for himself and, in doing so, take a small step in the
direction of developing the self-confidence necessary to make weightier decisions in the future.
But what happens when K12 students have limited opportunities to engage in responsible
decision-making? Among other things, they may become college students who say things like
"how long does my paper have to be? Is this what you want? This assignment is just too vague?"
or "I don't know what to do for my self- selected project?" And maybe K12 students who have
limited opportunities to engage in responsible decision-making morph into a restaurant patron
who continually struggle when it comes to making "meaty" decisions, such as what order for
lunch. We conclude this module by inviting you to integrate responsible decision-making into
the teaching and learning process. All you must do is decide where to start.
We're confident that you will make a responsible decision that considers the needs, strengths, and
prior experiences of your learners.
We’re also confident that you and your students will make a few mistakes along the way, and
then discover that those mistakes lead you to new ideas. So, here's your chance to take a chance.
It's an intelligent risk. Give it a go.
