Wellness 10 A Curriculum Guide for the Secondary Level

Decision-making Process

In Wellness 10, students demonstrate increasing self-responsibility for their own wellness by designing, implementing, and evaluating at least
two personal wellness action plans – one plan related to the Physical Activity and Fitness strand and one related to the Stress Management strand. Alternatively, students may choose to develop an action plan that encompasses both strands. The three-level decision-making process provides the organizational framework for the development, application, and evaluation of action plans. The three levels of the process are outlined below.

Decision-making Process

Level A – Extend Knowledge Base
1. Reflect on what you know about the issue.
2. Research the issue. Find the facts.

Level B – Make an Informed Decision
3. State the challenge. Explore the alternatives and consequences.
4. Make a decision. Set a personal goal.

Level C – Carry Out Action Plan
5. Design and apply an action plan.
6. Evaluate progress. Revise as needed.

The decision-making process is part of students’ daily lives. For example, they decide each morning what to wear and what to eat for breakfast. Whether they realize it or not, students are making decisions regularly. Students may be unaware of the fact that informed decision making is a process that involves a few basic steps.
People of all ages frequently make decisions and then do not put them into practice, or only practise them temporarily. New Year’s resolutions are a classic example of this. With these observations in mind, and to enable students to adopt wellness as a way of life, Wellness 10 includes the teaching and learning of steps leading to informed decision making and to applying the decisions made. Repeated use of the decision-making process enables students to assume increasing personal responsibility for their own wellness.

The decision-making process consists of three levels, each with two steps:

Level A of the decision-making process reinforces the knowledge that students already possess, expands on it, and teaches them to collect and evaluate additional information.
Level B emphasizes making decisions. Students identify their options, and the short- and long-term consequences of their choices. Students then set a personal goal that will lead them to enhance or maintain their level of wellness.
At Level C, students prepare a plan of action to attain the goal they have set and proceed to carry out their plan. They evaluate their progress and revise their action plans as needed.

At the beginning of the school year, teachers are likely to guide the activities corresponding to each of the six steps of the decision-making process quite closely. The first action plan of the year might be designed as a whole class and carried out by each
individual student. Subsequently, the action plans might be designed and carried out by individuals, in pairs, or in small groups. Repeated practice enables students to improve their ability to transfer their knowledge of wellness into responsible action. The following guidelines emphasize the important points to be addressed at each step of the decision-making process and are intended to guide teachers in planning activities at each step.

Level A – Extend Knowledge Base

Step 1: Reflect on what you know about the issue.

Stimulate the students’ interest for the topic or issue. Encourage them to respond to a video,
poster, story, picture, role-playing exercise, or other activity or experience.
Identify the topic or issue. Following the students’ initial reaction, clearly establish how the situation illustrates a wellness-related topic or issue. If applicable, encourage the students to think about how the topic affects them personally.

Support students in recalling relevant knowledge. Start a discussion, a talking circle, a brainstorming session, or other activity, to highlight what the students know or feel about the topic.

Step 2: Research the issue. Find the facts.

Emphasize the need to find out more. Through discussions, checklists, personal inventories, surveys, or other activities encourage the students to examine the extent to which their knowledge about the topic is reflected in their day-to-day behaviour.

Lay the groundwork for their research. Have the students think about what else they would like to know about the topic and what they need to know.
Find the facts. Invite a resource person to come to the class, read or view documentary sources, or encourage students to develop interviews or questionnaires to obtain specific information on the topic.

Level B – Make an Informed Decision

Step 3: State the challenge. Explore the alternatives and consequences.

Help students focus on one challenge that may be of concern to them from within the larger topic or issue under discussion. Have students identify different strategies to deal with the challenge. Accept all suggestions at this point. A brainstorming session is a good method to use but it often needs to be accompanied by other activities such as asking others who may be knowledgeable on the topic.

Students can then list the anticipated positive and negative consequences as well as the short-term and long-term consequences of each alternative. Help students establish criteria to determine which alternative supports wellness and is practical to apply. The criteria may include such factors as cost, personal commitment, expectations of others, and short-term and long-term effectiveness.

Step 4: Make a decision. Set a personal goal.

The alternatives can be compared by classifying or graphing them, and judging them against specific criteria. Students then select the best alternative based upon the criteria. At this point, students may need guidance in order to articulate a clear, attainable goal.

Level C – Carry Out Action Plan

Step 5: Design and apply an action plan.

Have students prepare an action plan. Guide the students by providing them with a list of the design elements that students will need to put their decision into practice and to reach their goal. Some students may be capable of designing an action plan independently.

Have students implement their action plans. If applicable, communicate with parents to inform them of the action plans and explain how the family can encourage and support their son or daughter in applying the particular action plan.

Step 6: Evaluate progress. Revise as needed.

Students are asked to keep a log or journal as they carry out their action plans. Feedback from the support person(s) and journal entries are both mechanisms that students can use to determine whether the action plan is working well and why.