Social studies teachers are constantly looking for ways to engage students in the learning process. We want to avoid the classes where we are doing most of the explaining (aka talking), periodically asking questions that a few interested students are answering. Ugh! For the challenge of engagement, think of the last period on Friday afternoon. Am I right?
Decision-making Problems in the Classroom
One way to engage students is to give them a decision to make. Students come into class and are confronted with a decision-making problem. THEY have to decide what to do. These are real historical problems on topics that the class would have been studying in world history anyway. For example:
- Should Rome risk war with Carthage in 264 BCE?
- As a knight in France in 1095, will you join the Crusade to recapture Jerusalem?
- As Mansa Musa, the leader of Mali in 1324, will you make the Hajj to Mecca?
- As Philip II in 1587, will you order an attack on England by the Spanish fleet?
- As the Chinese Emperor in 1838, what will you do about opium addiction?
- As Margaret Thatcher in 1979, what will you do about high inflation?
Most teachers don’t have the time to write decision-making problems on complex historical events. Social Studies School Service filled that need by creating lessons on the six problems above, along with 35 other problems in world history (and 99 problems in U.S. History). You can see the list of decision-making problems on the homepage of my website.
Check out the Decision-making in World History workbook here!
Sample Lesson
Let’s look at an example of a decision-making problem:
The Opening of Japan in 1853 is an important topic since it involves imperialism and since it is a watershed event in 19th century world history, leading to the Meiji Restoration, to Japanese imperialism and indirectly to World War II. This is a short excerpt of the full lesson, which is 17 pages.
Student Handout (Excerpt)
The year is 1853 and you are Lord Abe, the lead negotiator for the Japanese government. Four warships—including two steamships, which no Japanese has ever seen before—from the United States have sailed into Edo (Tokyo) Bay. The commander of the American fleet, Commodore Perry, delivered a letter from the American President, Millard Fillmore, stating that he wants Japan and the United States to begin trading with each other. The problem for Japanese leaders is that, for over 200 years, Japan hasn’t traded with any countries, with minor exceptions for China, Korea, and the Netherlands. To open trade with the United States would be a major change in the basic way Japan approaches the world. Commodore Perry said he would be back in about six months to get the Japanese response to the request. The warships imply the threat of force if the Japanese do not agree to open trade. Japan does not have weapons that could damage or sink the ships. If there is a fight, the ships could bombard Japanese cities without any effective retaliation. Commodore Perry is an unyielding leader. He entered Edo Bay without Japanese permission. He set a deadline of three days for the Japanese to accept the letter from President Fillmore. Without Japanese permission, he sent his warships further into the harbor at Edo, which frightened many Japanese people. He gave you, Lord Abe, a white flag for the Japanese to use in case of a fight. The implication of this is that, if there is warfare, the Japanese are going to need the flag to surrender, rather than prolong the bloodshed. He told you that when he returns he will have many more warships.
Decision to Make:
Which of these will you do? You can choose more than one option, but if you do pick several, make sure they aren’t contradictory. If you choose E, what will be your next choice if delay doesn’t work?
- Agree to open trade with the United States.
- Fight the Americans when they come back. Even if the Japanese lose, they will show their valor, and they will show other countries that they are willing to fight to keep their independence.
- When Commodore Perry returns, engage him in negotiations, and then assassinate him and the other American officers.
- Don’t negotiate. Close the country down to Western trade except for trade in modern military weapons from the Europeans. Use the weapons to keep Japan isolated.
- Use every tactic possible to delay the Americans until the Japanese get the weapons needed to defend the country.
Procedure
Step 1: Students read the handout and individually write down their initial decision. It is important that students write down their choice before interacting with their classmates, so they can see how their thinking evolves on the topic.
Step 2: Students pair up to discuss their choices.
Step 3: The teacher brings the class together to vote on the various options and records them for students to see. (For example, 11 votes for Option A, 17 for Option B, etc.) It is a good idea to have students put their heads down and close their eyes while voting, so they aren’t influenced by their classmates’ votes. Then the teacher asks for arguments for and against each option.
Step 4: The class discusses the options again and revotes.
Step 5: The teacher distributes the outcomes of the problem.
Step 6: The class debriefs the activity:
- How did Lord Abe do in his decision making?
- How did students do in their decision making? What would they do differently the next time?
- What in the outcomes, if anything, surprised students?
- Analyze the decision making by Lord Abe according to the various elements of the P-A-G-E model in the box below. The items in bold are relevant to this lesson. The underlined answer below the box is an example of a suggested analysis. Similar answers are given for the other bolded parts of P-A-G-E (assumptions, context, analogies, goals and especially unintended consequences in this lesson).
- Identify any underlying problem(s): The major underlying problem the Japanese faced was their military weakness compared to the United States and European countries. Without this underlying problem the negotiations would have gone very differently.
Step 7: Students write responses about one of these topics: a. What they would do differently in their own decision-making next time, b. An assessment of the decision making by Lord Abe, c. Why this event is important, or d. What surprised them and why?
Get this lesson and so many more in the 19th Century: Decision-Making in World History workbook!
Overcoming Challenges in the Lesson
Weak student context knowledge: The written introduction provides context knowledge. It is meant to be short and convey just enough information to allow students to make the decision without overwhelming them or leaving out information. It is designed to help teachers avoid explaining (talking) too much. Lack of student knowledge is also an opportunity. We want students who don’t know what happened in certain historical events, to make decisions BEFORE they know what happened. It corrects for the problem of hindsight bias, where we become judgmental of people in history. When you think about it, not knowing much about topics is a lot like what citizens have to do all the time.
Students who are low level readers: The short versions of the problems in the decision-making books are written at a middle school/high school reading level. Vocabulary sheets are also included and teachers can use vocabulary decoding strategies with students.
The Strengths of Decision-making Problems
Decision making problems are engaging and often exciting! But they are also worthwhile in terms of history and citizenship. As you can see from the Opening of Japan problem, events did not have to turn out the way they did, implicitly teaching about contingency in history. They teach humility also. When students write down their decisions they might be humbled by their classmates’ arguments or by the outcomes of the problem. No one has to tell them – they learn that they can’t always be certain that they are right. Experience is a great teacher! Decision-making problems overcome what cognitive psychologists call hindsight bias (mentioned above) and they build historical empathy. After doing a number of decision-making problems in my classes, several of my students said, “I sure wouldn’t want to be president. These are hard!”
Get a free trial of Active Classroom to try these decision-making world history lessons with your students!
Kevin O’Reilly taught history for 39 years, all but four of those years at Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School in Massachusetts, where he also coached basketball. He is the former NCSS Social Studies Teacher of the Year, along with several other awards, and is the author of 31 books on critical thinking and decision making in history. He is a climate activist and enjoys visiting his 2 sons and 5 grandchildren in Maryland and Japan. Fun fact: He and his wife are both left-handed and so are both their sons. You can see his biography and free critical thinking lessons at http://www.criticalthinkinginhistory.com.