4. Decision Making

Decision making has proved a fruitful area of research in psychology and its best substantiated findings are being incorporated in our teaching of decision-making to our students.  Decision-making required of students in schools is of two quite different kinds: intellectual and personal.  Intellectual decisions include what strategy to adopt in solving a mathematical problem, what material to use to fulfil a design brief, and what line to take in presenting an argument.  Personal decision-making is the context of much of Personal Development and Christian Studies, but is also addressed in English, History, Geography and Science.  In Personal Development, students practise using a decision-making grid in relation to common adolescent choices.

Teachers need to help students apply this knowledge in making their own decisions.  In addition, the process of decision-making will be taught explicitly within subjects.  The steps of decision-making include: clarifying the decision to be made and its purpose; generating and evaluating options; predicting outcomes; identifying the criteria of a successful decision in the context and using these to evaluate the decision after it has been implemented.

Decision Making: Teaching in the Junior School

Decision Making has not previously been explicitly taught in the Junior School. As part of the Years 5-8 continuous curriculum, it is anticipated that by the time St Catherine�s students complete Year 6 they will be familiar with the basic steps of decision-making:

(i) clarifying the decision to be made and its purpose

(ii) generating options

(iii) predicting outcomes

(iv) identifying criteria of success

(v) making the decision

(vi) evaluating the decision.

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