Decision Education Invades American History
by Tim Hadley
October 13, 2009
On October 8th, American History students had the opportunity to apply knowledge they have gained from the beginning of the semester. Through a joint project with the English department, History has teamed up to reinforce concepts taught through a program called Decision Education. The program teaches students how to make positive choices through an ordered process known as the decision chain (shown below.) The curriculum was provided by the KCSTAAR program, an organization dedicated to reducing alcohol use among teens.
American History students had an opportunity to use this program when studying the post Civil War era. Students divided randomly into three groups and assigned a question. The questions were: "Should the South be punished for the Civil War?, If so, how?"; "How will you help the newly freed African Americans?"; and "What should the conditions be for the South to reenter the Union?"
Using these questions, students then went through the decision chain to work out possible solutions, ending at "Commitment to Follow Through" in which they were to come to a consensus as a group. Students came up with many creative solutions and found that making decisions can become systematic if they allow themselves the time to work through the problem.
