You Be the Judge: Lessons to Build Evaluative Thinking Skills

Throughout our lives we are faced with situations that require decisions. Sometimes the decision is easy, and sometimes we have to wrestle with hard choices. It may be as simple as knowing that you love red and hate purple, and, therefore, will buy the red sweater over the purple one. More commonly, however, these situations require complex thought processes that weigh many factors before making a final evaluation. By being aware of different techniques that can be employed to make decisions, we increase the likelihood of making rational decisions we can be happy with, rather than jumping to intuitive decisions that we soon regret.

You Be the Judge helps students master essential skills for decision making and evaluation. Complete lessons and reproducible worksheets introduce students to three types of decision making:

• criteria evaluations measure against a predetermined standard,
• value judgments employ moral training and personal values, and
• judicial decisions require students to weigh facts before making an evaluation.

Each unit helps build important evaluative skills students will use throughout their lives.