4 Ways to Utilize Group Decision-Making in the Classroom

A complete education is about more than just the material covered on tests; it’s about preparing students to be citizens in the real world. Learning how to participate in group decision-making from a young age can help students understand how everyone has an active role to play in society, whether as a juror, a voter, a manager, a teacher, a community organizer or simply someone who knows how to reach a consensus and choose a decisive path of action.

The good news is that utilizing group decision-making in the classroom can be just as fun and engaging as it is informative. It’s a chance for students to collaborate, ask questions, learn about group dynamics and feel proud of their contribution to a larger sum.

Create a Classroom Society

Societies include a great deal of decision-making, so it only makes sense that creating a mock society would uphold these same principles. It gives students the opportunity to take part in everything from deciding on leadership style to creating an economy and writing bylaws.

As the teacher, you’ll have to set guidelines and help guide the group through the creation of their society. This exercise presents an opportune chance to touch on different governments throughout history and around the world. Your classroom can either establish one model and stick to it for an extended period or introduce new options each month, quarter or semester.

Solve Applicable, Real-World Issues

Allowing students to practice problem-solving on real, tangible issues helps them understand that choices come with consequences—whether positive or negative. For example, let’s say your class will be getting a pet. As the teacher, it’d be easy enough to adopt a guinea pig, hamster or goldfish and set up a suitable habitat over the weekend. But instances like this can also be great teaching moments. What if you instead asked your students to research potential pet options and give short persuasive presentations? What if everyone got a vote in choosing and naming the pet? The students will feel more connected to the outcome because they had a say, and they’ll learn the power of preparing for a decision rather than winging it last minute.

It’s important to establish which decision-making model your class will use before casting the vote. You could operate on a simple majority, or you could ask each student to rank the top five options from most preferred to least preferred. You could eliminate low-performing choices one by one, or you could require unanimity to pass the motion. It just goes to show how many options there are outside of decision by authority alone.

Review Course Material as a Group

Looking for a more compelling way to gauge student comprehension than a pop quiz? Try making review sessions a group activity with a classroom response system. This strategy has a few built-in advantages: everyone can answer at their own pace and any confusion or disagreement about correct answers becomes obvious, meaning you can take time to address why it may be occurring.

If you ask a question and two-thirds of your students answer it correctly but the other one-third return a different answer, you’ll know it’s time to backtrack and revisit that lesson so everyone is on the same page. If everyone returns a unanimous answer, you’ll know they’re equipped with the knowledge to make the right decision come exam time.

Host a Classroom Debate

A well-structured classroom debate can include every single member of the class at once. One team argues in favor of a statement or premise; another argues as the opposition. The audience members ask questions, provide opinions and ultimately vote to decide who’s won the debate. You can apply this activity to any subject: social studies, history, English, science, and yes, even math. Just make sure the rules and objectives are crystal clear from the outset.

These suggestions represent just four ways to utilize group decision-making in the classroom, but they all emphasize collaboration, logical reasoning and abstract analysis in their own way.