3.2 Five Ways to Make a Decision
This middle school agricultural literacy lesson teaches students five methods of group decision-making—Authority, Expert Member, Majority Vote, Committees, and Consensus—along with the advantages and disadvantages of each. Through a hands-on candy-decision interest approach, a Motion e-Moment movement activity, small-group work, and scenario-based assessment, students learn to choose the appropriate decision-making method for different tasks, assignments, and projects.
At a glance
- Learning objectives
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- Apply foundational and life skills learned through agriculture in the school and community setting.
- Demonstrate compromise, consensus, and community building concepts for carrying out different tasks, assignments, and projects.
- Time required
- Instruction time for this lesson: 45 minutes.
- Grade level
- Middle School
- Materials
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- Transparencies/Projector
- Writing Surface
- MS.IAS.3.2.TM.A – one per teacher
- MS.IAS.3.2.TM.B – one per teacher
- MS.IAS.3.2.TM.C – one per teacher
- MS.IAS.3.2.AS.A – one per student
- MS.IAS.3.2.AS.B – one of each for student group
- Playing Cards (arranged under chairs)
- Bag of Candy
- Lesson Number
- MS.IAS.3.2
- Curriculum
- Middle School Food and Agricultural Literacy Curriculum
- Precepts
- B. Relationships (B2. Interact and work with others; B5. Participate effectively as a team member); H. Social Growth (H2. Present self appropriately in various settings); M. Communications (M4. Communicates appropriately with co-workers and supervisors)
- Key Terms
- Authority; Expert Member; Majority Vote; Committees; Consensus
- Resources
- Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, F.P. (2006). Joining Together: Group Theory and Group Skills – Ninth Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Downloads & Links
Aligned Standards
National Standards
- CS.01.01.06.bAssign project parts equitably among team members to achieve a given task.
- CS.01.02.01.bDetermine human relation skills characteristic of people who exhibit compassion, empathy, unselfishness, trustworthiness, reliability, and being friendly.
- CS.03.02.01.aAnalyze the steps in the decision-making process.
- NL-ENG.K-12.12Applying Language Skills