Have you ever thought about how life is one long series of multiple-choice questions? Every day, there are options to be evaluated and decisions to be made. 

Students are familiar with the MCQs they answer during their tests. But are they prepared for the MCQs they face in real life? As caregivers and teachers, it is our responsibility to make sure that they are. 

And the best way to do that is by developing decision-making skills in students. If you would like to know more about this, keep reading. Because in this post, we cover: 

1. What are decision-making skills?
2. What is the importance of decision-making skills for students? 
3. How do we go about developing decision-making skills in students? 

What are decision-making skills?

Decision-making skills refer to the abilities that allow us to make thoughtful and responsible choices. The process of making these choices begins with identifying the situation or problem at hand. 

The next step is to analyse all the available options. Then, we arrive at a decision, execute it, and reflect on the outcome. 

What is the importance of decision-making skills for students?

People of all ages benefit from being able to make informed choices. However, the importance of decision-making skills for students cannot be overstated. 

Here are five reasons why educators and parents must focus on decision-making skills for students:  

1. Decisions can be life-changing:

Decisions, whether big or small, can represent turning points in a student’s life. The choices that a student makes now can have a significant impact on their future.

These choices include the courses they pick, the colleges they decide to attend, and even the people they choose to spend time with. 

2. Decisions need to be made in every area of life:

From trivial choices like picking what to eat for a snack, to game-changers like figuring out a career path, decisions cannot be evaded. 

Students are faced with dozens of crossroads every single day. The better their decision-making skills, the easier it becomes to navigate these choices. 

3. Decisions can affect many people: 

At some point, students will face situations where the decisions they take will impact the people around them. This includes the choices they make while voting, driving, and the way they treat their environment. 

When students are equipped with decision-making skills, they will be able to make choices that are considerate and empathetic.

4. Decisions need to be made independently sometimes: 

Support systems are essential for everyone, including adults. However, some decisions have to be made alone. A parent, mentor, or teacher may not always be around to help a student make the right decision. 

Decision-making skills help students make choices independently. This gives their self-confidence and self-esteem a boost. 

5. Decision-making skills can reduce stress: 

When students struggle to weigh their options, it can lead to what is known as decision paralysis or choice paralysis. They might feel so overwhelmed that they might end up not making a decision at all. 

But, decision-making skills for students can keep choice paralysis at bay. These skills will help learners develop the mindset needed to evaluate options calmly and efficiently. 

How do we go about developing decision-making skills in students? 

Decision-making, just like any other life skill, requires coaching, repetition, and patience. It takes time to develop this skill. 

This is why students need to be given plenty of opportunities to practise making decisions in supportive environments. And what better environment than the classroom? 

Here, we have put together a list of classroom strategies for developing decision-making skills in students: 

1. Practise decision-making using real-life scenarios: 

Teachers can keep an eye open for scenarios that naturally crop up in the classrooms that require students to take a decision. 

For instance, resolving conflicts amongst themselves, choosing a theme for an essay, picking materials for a project, or deciding how to spend their break. 

Provide students the space to analyse their options out loud. Ask them probing questions that encourage them to dig deeper. However, refrain from influencing their decisions. 

2. Analyse decisions appearing in textbooks and novels:  

During their lessons, students are bound to come across different historical, fictional, or contemporary characters. Set aside some time in the class to discuss the actions and decisions of these characters. 

This can also be turned into an engaging activity. Students in favour of the character’s decision can debate with the students who are against it. 

Additionally, learners can also be asked what they would have done if they were in the character’s shoes. This opens the doors for both critical and creative thinking. 

3. Promote complementary skills like listening and mindfulness: 

When students listen attentively, they get to learn about different perspectives before making a decision. Similarly, when students practise being more mindful, they learn to slow down and focus on the situation at hand. 

These skills work together to boost decision-making. Teachers can focus on many such complementary skills through group discussions, debates, creative exercises, and other activities. 

4. Gamify it! 

Learning is most effective in a classroom where work and play go hand in hand. There are several games that can be used to drive home the importance of decision-making skills for students. Here, we’ve listed a few examples of activities for decision-making skills: 

- Role play:

Students can be given a scenario to think about. Then, they can be asked to take up different roles and act it out. 

This gives them a chance to experiment with different decisions and observe their outcomes. They can also observe how their friends approach the same scenario with a different perspective. 

- Story-telling: 

There’s nothing like a good story to unlock the power of a child’s imagination. A fun story-telling activity would be to provide the students with a prompt or the starting line of a tale. 

Each student can then contribute one sentence to the story. As the students build on each other’s sentences, they will see how every decision impacts the one that comes after it. 

- Voting: 

Voting is an activity that deeply engages decision-making skills. Teachers can ask students a simple question and present them with a few choices. Students can then vote for their choice by a simple show of hands. 

To scale this up, teachers can set up a mock election complete with candidates, speeches, and a ballot! An activity like this will also activate a student’s listening and critical thinking skills. 

- Classic games: 

Games like ludo, tic-tac-toe, checkers, and chess are popular favourites among children. But did you know these games also offer dozens of opportunities to practise decision-making skills?

Whether it’s choosing which card to put down or which token to move, these games make students think carefully about their next steps. 

So, there you have it. If you follow these strategies and activities for decision-making skills, you might find that developing decision-making skills in students is simpler than it seems. 

Before we part: 

While making the right decision is important, we must remind our young ones to not be afraid of making the wrong decision. We are all bound to make mistakes and poor choices from time to time. What matters is that we learn from these situations, so we can make better choices in the future.