Problem Solving and Responsible Decision Making 1st-4th

Problem Solving
And Decision making

How do we make decisions?

​• Act without thinking about it (usually based on emotions)
• Do nothing/stay stuck
• Make a decision after evaluating the pros and cons of our options

When making decisions, we normally do one of the following:

How do you make a choice when you’re faced with a tough decision?
What factors contribute to your decision? (e.g., consequences, own feelings, values, impulses).

Tough Choices

A lot of times it can benefit us to pause and think rationally about the pros (good things about our decision) and cons (negatives about our decision). •

Often, there is no exact right answer, but we can choose an option that has the most pros, the fewest cons, and leads to the highest number of positive consequences or outcomes.

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Pros and cons

GAME TIME
Not really but we're going to call it a game.

Multiple Select

What number smells like the color green?

• 7

• 4

• 6

• 37

• 9 or 2

Would you rather........?

Split into groups based on what number you chose!

Your group will receive a paper with a would you rather question. Look and the pros and cons of each option and make your decision based on the pros or cons.

Follow Up

• Was it easy or difficult to focus on the facts to find the pros and cons instead of listening to our own opinions?

• For those that changed their choice, what helped them make a more informed decision?

• How might taking the time to evaluate pros and cons help us make better decisions?

Your friend tells you that she is close to failing her math class. She is desperate to bring her grade up because she won’t be able to play basketball if she doesn’t. She asks you to give her the math test that you took earlier in the day for her to look at before she goes in to take the same math test.
What are the pros? Cons?

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​Scenario

Recap

The problems we face don’t have two clear options like in the Would You Rather game and that it can be helpful to brainstorm more than 2 options to understand our choices.