You can also see this video in Spanish.
Narrator: Hi Everyone, meet Pa and Jose!
[White Background that looks like crumpled paper. Two hands slide up from the bottom bringing two children, Pa and Jose. Both have text reading their names above their heads. Animated graphics appear of two fluffy clouds, daisies, a cat, and a sun. Text reading “Everyone meet…” is in the top left corner.]
Narrator: This is the story of how Pa and Jose used a reasoned decision-making process to make a choice. Making choices is an important economic skill. Using reasoning to make choices is a powerful skill for students to practice in school.
[Pa, Jose, and graphics slide out of view. A yellow explosion text bubble appears in middle of the screen with text on it reading “Reasoned Decision Making Process.” Pa and Jose appear back on the screen each holding a magnifying glass.]
[Text disappears and is replaced with a figure of a male with large muscles.
[A roller paint brush glides across the screen making everything white.]
Narrator: “What should I do?”
[Blue background appears. Pa and Jose stand in the lower right hand corner. A large white text bubble appears between them that reads “what should I do?”]
Narrator: To make an informed choice, you need to follow a process to THINK about how you come to a decision about what to do. What does a “reasoned” decision look like?
[Text in the bubble changed to “what does a reasoned decision look like?”]
Narrator: You have to look at the costs - what are you going to give up?
[A squeegee pulls down from the top making the screen white. Same blue background appears again. “What should I do?” is written across the top. Pa and Jose still stand in the corner. In the middle of the screen text reads “costs- what are you going to give up?”]
Narrator: You also look at the benefits - what will satisfy your want?
[More text appears below reading “benefits-what will satisfy your want?”]
Narrator: How might you follow a process to make a choice?
[Two hand reach up and pull down the screen revealing a yellow screen that reads “process” in the middle of the screen with red question marks surrounding it.]
Narrator: Let’s follow Pa and Jose as they work with their classmates to make a choice.
[Yellow background remains the same but scene moves to Ms. Adams classroom. Ms. Adams stands in front of her desk and Pa and Jose stand to the left of her with three other classmates. A white board is on the wall behind all of them.]
Teacher: Class, you have earned 30 minutes of “free” time. How do you want to spend your time?
Teacher: This is a great opportunity to use a reasoned decision-making process. We are going to work through the FIVE steps on the PACED grid to make our choice.
[A hand slides up and writes “Reasoned Decision-Making Process” on the whiteboard.]
[Text reading “5 steps on the paced grid” appears below previous text.]
Ms. Adams: But first, let’s think more about the choice we are going to make.
[Transition to a pink screen. A hand slides up and writes out “Preparing for the choice” and an image of a blue pen appears next to it.]
Ms. Adams: It is important to stop and think about what Mr. Nowlin’s class learned last time they made a choice for free time.
[Text disappears. Ms. Adams stands in the lower right corner and Pa and Jose stand in the lower left corner. Above them text reads “what are the possible consequences of different choices?” An animated graphic of a blue movie camera appears.]
Pa: Some of the students in his class could not watch the movie.
[A red ‘X’ appears over the movie camera.]
Ms. Adams: That’s right. Also, what might happen related to our choice that is unexpected?
Jose: It might be raining outside during our free time.
[An animated umbrella appears next to movie camera.]
Narrator: Another thing to consider is this question: Why do different people or groups - in this story, classrooms - with the same options make different choices?]
Narrator: Different people have different values or beliefs and this may result in different choices.
[New pink screen with text reading “why” across the top. Two figures of females appear. One has a thought bubble with a heart and a pizza while the other has a thought bubble with a heart and a hamburger.]
Ms. Adams: We will be completing the PACED grid together as a class to make our choice.
[A paint roller glides across the screen to make it white. It then transitions to a green background with a city skyline. A hand slides up and writes “using the grid.” There is also an animation of a paper and pencil.]
Ms. Adams: Our problem is “How should we spend the 30 minutes of free time our class has earned?”
[Ms. Adams stands on a new green background. A hand brings forward an image of the actual decision making grid. It reads “how should we spend the 30 minutes of ‘free’ time our class has earned?”]
Ms. Adams: The next step is to list the Alternatives - the different choices you can use to solve your problem.
[The image of the grid pops out of view. A hand appears and writes across the screen “list the alternatives.” Text below reads “The different choices you can use to solve your problem” with the word ‘problem’ emphasized in red.]
Ms. Adams: Let’s brainstorm four different choices for our “free” time …
[Blue background appears with text that reads “brainstorm.”]
Pa: We could play board games and fix puzzles.
[Pa appears with letter blocks in the upper left corner.]
Jose: We could watch a movie.
[Jose appears in the lower left corner with a pair of eyeglasses and a blue movie camera.]
Pa: We could listen to music and draw or paint.
[A second image of Pa appears in the upper right corner with a paint brush and palette.]
Jose: We could go outside on the playground.
[A second image of Jose appears with a red and yellow polka dot kickball.]
Ms. Adams: These are great alternatives! Next we need to list the criteria for our choice.
[Screen transitions to a white piece of paper on a wooden desk with a pair of scissors and an pencil laying on it. Text reads “list criteria.” There’s a graphic of a panda sitting at a computer in the upper right corner.]
Ms. Adams: Criteria are the standards used to judge the alternatives
[Text and graphics disappear. New text appears reading “criteria are the standards used to judge alternatives.” Ms. Adams sits in a chair with her laptop in the upper right corner and Pa and Jose stand in the lower right corner.]
Pa: One thing that is important to me is to be able to play with friends.
[Text changes to “1. Play with friends”]
Jose: Exercise is important to me.
[More text reading “2. Exercise” appears]
Pa and Jose: It has to be fun!
[Last additional text appears reading “3. Fun!”]
Ms. Adams: Our final criterion is the time; how much time did our class earn?
[Same paper screen. Two animated images of clocks appear along with the text that reads “how much time did our class earn?”]
Pa and Jose: 30 minutes
Ms. Adams: Yes, that is the final criterion we will use to evaluate the alternatives in our reasoned decision-making process.
Narrator: The class is ready to Evaluate each alternative according to how well it matches each criterion. Ms. Adams will use a + (plus sign) for a good match and a - (minus sign) for things that are NOT a good match. Let’s listen in on this process …
[New red screen. A hand writes across the screen “evaluate.”]
[Actual image of the decision making grid appears. The criteria read “play with friends, exercise, fun, 30 minutes” while the alternatives read “play board games or fix puzzles, watch a movie, listen to music and draw/paint, and go outside on the playground.”]
[Green plus sign appears on the left side. A yellow minus sign appears below it.]
Teacher: Do board games and puzzles allow you to play with friends?
Pa and Jose: Yes
[Green plus sign appears on the graph in the correlating square]
Teacher: Do you get exercise by watching a movie?
Pa and Jose: No
[Yellow minus sign appears on the graph in the correlating square]
Narrator: Listen to all of this great reasoning - Reasoning is when you use criteria to WEIGH the costs and benefits of each alternative.
[Blue background. A hand writes across it “reasoning is when you use criteria to weigh the costs and benefits of each alternative.”]
Narrator: How did the class use reasoning to make a choice?
Narrator: In our story, you can see that some of the alternatives had both pluses and minuses. The best choice is the alternative with the … most plus signs.
[The same decision making grid as before appears, on a yellow background, but with the pluses and minuses filled out.]
[A squeegee pulls down the screen to show the same grid but it is moved over to the left side of the screen. Text on the right side reads ‘most plus signs’ with a green plus sign above it.]
Narrator: As you can see on the completed PACED grid, the class decided to spend time on the playground during the 30 minutes of “free” time.
[A circle appears over the decision that reads “playground.” An arrow points from the circle to the right to text that reads “playground wins!”]
Narrator: Pa and Jose are not quite finished with the process of making a choice! It is important to communicate what you learned with others beyond your classroom.
[Yellow background with Pa, Jose and Ms. Adams standing to the left with text reading “communicate with others” across the top.]
Ms. Adams: Now that we have used a reasoned decision-making process, we are going to tell Mr. Nowlin’s class about it. Communicating our work can make a difference in our community and our world!
[Mr. Nowlin and three of his students appear on the right side. Graphics of paper and pencils appear between the classes.]
[Screen slide over to lined notebook paper. Text reads “you can make a difference!” across the top. Ms. Adams and Mr. Nowlin’s students appear at the bottom of the screen.]
Narrator: This story is one part of economic reasoning for students in schools. Fifth graders will apply a reasoned decision-making process to study an event that happened in the past.
[Kids and words slide off screen. Narrator’s words appear on screen as he says them. Graphics on a pen, pencil, and magnifying glass also appear.]
Narrator: You will continue learning about this process in middle school and high school. AND You will use reasoning to make choices in your lives today and in the future!
[Text “Use reasoning” appears at the top of the screen. Text reading “today” appears followed by an arrow pointing to the right at the word “future.”]
[Screen fades to dark blue with the Minnesota Center for Social Studies Education logo appears in the middle. The lower left corner has the Minnesota Historical Society logo and the lower right corner has the Minnesota Department of Education logo.]