Newsletters
The Decision Education Foundation Newsletter
April 2008
Dear DEF Friends,
This quarter, I am delighted to report several advances for DEF:
- Launch of our new Web site
- Certificate program at Stanford in teaching decision skills
- New applications of decision-making principles for students in several states
- Open positions at DEF for two program directors.
We've been receiving positive feedback on our new Web site, launched in January (www.decisioneducation.org). It has DEF's updated look and feel and is built on a platform that will enable us to add many exciting features in the future, including an online community for those committed to teaching decision skills to youth. We thank those of you who have sent us comments, and we look forward to input from those who have not yet visited the new site.
As mentioned in the December newsletter, educators interested in teaching decision skills have a great new opportunity, starting this summer at Stanford University. Teachers, administrators, and other school/youth personnel can earn a Certificate in Strategic Decisions and Risk Management, Emphasis in Decision Education, from the Stanford Center for Professional Development. To learn more about this program, go to http://strategicdecisions.stanford.edu/?educators.
As you'll read in this newsletter, DEF has been involved in exciting efforts around the country, including an Alaska kayaking adventure trip for high school and college students. During this trip, the DEF-trained leader incorporated decision skills into all the learning activities. Closer to home, we've been supporting and training teachers in two decision-focused magnet schools in Omaha and teaching decision skills to high school students in California.
Finally, to continue expanding our programs and achieve our mission, DEF is seeking to hire two program directors to develop and support school partnerships and additional curricula. Please feel free to forward the job description to people you feel would be good candidates for this important position or give me their contact information.
Thanks to everyone who made end-of-the-year tax-deductible donations to DEF. We greatly appreciate your continuing support. If you wish to make a donation to enable educators from schools and organizations with limited resources to participate in our upcoming decision education training at Stanford, please click here.
Thank you for your continuing support of DEF and our very best wishes for a happy 2008.
Sincerely,
Laurie Mandel
Managing Director
Decision Education Foundation
Better Decisions - Better Lives
New Omaha Magnet Schools Are Up and Running
Last fall, the Omaha Public School District launched two new magnet schools, Morton Middle School and Benson High School. Both schools feature decision science as a core element of their theme. Together with project-based learning and connection to the community, decision skills are taught and practiced as an essential part of students' educational experience.
Freshmen at Benson and seventh graders at Morton attend courses on decision making. In addition, lessons emphasizing good decision making are taught throughout the curriculum to reinforce the learning. The first decision courses were piloted successfully in the fall, and the insights from the pilot programs were applied to improve the courses delivered this spring.
Students also participate in community decision projects where they apply their learning to a community issue. Morton students took on a topic currently generating controversy in Omaha - the potential development of a new baseball stadium. They conducted surveys of city residents' opinions and met with city leaders to discuss the issues. Benson students developed and executed a strategy to improve neighborhood parks, and a local newspaper covered their efforts.
Principals Lisa Dale of Benson and Matt Brandl of Morton are impressed with how their students have taken to the topics in creative ways, and they're enthusiastic about the success to date. All Morton teachers will have completed the initial DEF training this spring, while a summer institute in Omaha this July will be held for Benson teachers. Enrollment in the schools has increased significantly against goals, as the vision for the schools becomes more broadly appreciated and their successes acknowledged.
Meg Reports from the Field
I'm happy to report that my favorite DEF moment to date happened just a few weeks ago. I was asked to teach two sessions of decision-making to a group of 15-year-old boys at Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, California. When I entered the room for the second session, the boys greeted me with, "We've made a decision, Meg. This can't be your last day." When I asked why, a few boys piped up, "We're learning too much. We're actually making better decisions." The boys told me about decisions that they had made in the week after our first class. These ranged from decisions about sports and academics to emotionally challenging decisions about living situations.
DEF's mission is to improve the lives of young people by teaching them to make better decisions. For me, seeing is believing. In this short time, I witnessed the potential of our materials to be transformational. The boys and their teachers have unanimously agreed that we should now work together on a decision project. I'll keep you posted as the project develops.
In the meantime, here are the thoughts of Saint Francis English teacher Bill DeLaney: "The Decision Education Foundation provided our students with an excellent framework for looking at and evaluating the importance of decision skills in their lives. A testament to the impact of the program is that they couldn't wait for Meg to return so that they could continue to learn about making effective decisions."
DEF's Decision-Making Tools Head to Alaska
Erik Boggs Hones His Team's Survival Skills with Decision Training
Eric Boggs is an outdoor educator, wilderness expedition leader, and kayak skills instructor, who has been a DEF supporter for several years. Last summer, Eric took the DEF Decision Quality Chain to the Alaskan wilderness, where he led a Wilderness Education Association Outdoor Leadership course for high school and college students. On this 21-day, 200- mile kayaking expedition, Eric taught and applied the DEF model of quality decision-making.
Currently earning his masters degree in education and teaching at the OutDoor School, an alternative high school in Eugene, Oregon, Eric has been leading wilderness expeditions for seven years through the National Outdoor Leadership School.
Because important - even life and death - decisions arise during an expedition, Eric believed that the Alaska kayaking expedition was a great opportunity to apply the decision quality chain, from initial planning to everyday challenges along the way. For example, the students charged with provisioning for the trip faced a supermarket's worth of products, a limited budget, space and weight constraints, plus unknown tastes of participants. Explicit discussion of these tradeoffs highlighted the decision at hand and the process needed to ensure a quality decision on provisions.
The DEF decision quality chain, which illustrates the six elements of a good decision, proved valuable for building consensus. In critical group decisions, the students drew individual chains. They then shared their ratings on separate links as a means to arrive at a decision that everyone could live with. In this way, the group was able to clarify values and priorities and reach the consensus that 1) the safety of individuals, gear, and the environment; 2) enjoying wilderness experiences; 3) skill building; and 4) having fun were the most important elements in their expedition. Clarifying these values early made subsequent decisions far easier to handle.
By the end of the first week, various students became "Leaders of the Day," with the responsibility for facilitating critical decisions. Again, they turned to the chain in their leadership role, as they put the fundamental decision-making principles into practice.
At evening meetings, the group talked through the day's decisions. Once again, the chain was useful, this time as a debriefing tool, helping the students build on their experiences and use what they had learned in planning for the next day. Before departure each morning, leaders marked strategic locations on the nautical chart where a decision would be made. The students knew they would be facing decisions at these locations, an awareness that helped build their "decision fitness." At night around the campfire, students read accident reports to highlight risky situations and rate the quality of the day's decisions.
Eric believes that the Alaska expedition served as a metaphor for life. "But the most powerful part of the learning process began with the journey's conclusion," he says. "Now the students have new skills to apply, even when not kayaking. The real-life decisions they tackled in the wilderness will stay with them, and just maybe, when faced with a critical choice, they'll remember the day they sketched decision chains in the sand."