Welcome to “Forward” History! Decision-making problems force you to make decisions about events in United States History before you know what actually happened in those events. It’s learning history in a forward way – you decide, then you find out what happened – rather than hindsight history, where you just find out what happened. You get at least two benefits from this method of learning history. First, you may improve your decision-making skills. Someday, when you avoid buying a “lemon” used car that would have wasted thousands of dollars, you can thank your history teacher for building up your decision-making skills. Second, it’s fun to learn history like a detective story where you’re waiting to find out if your decision helped the country or ended in disaster. Why practice decision making in history? Just like in life today, the problems historical figures faced -- like whether or not to send more ground troops into Vietnam -- were messy. Even after the events played out, people disagree about whether they could have played out better or whether unfortunate outcomes were "inevitable." By practicing thinking through how to solve a problem from the past, and then comparing your choices to those of real historical figures, you have a chance to figure out what else you should start taking into consideration when similar messy choices arise.
Guide to Decision Making
Search for sample decision-making lessons by historical topic under the “US History” and “World History” tabs. Curriculum can be purchased from Social Studies School Service.
Students tackle fascinating historical questions that put them in the shoes of a range of people from the past, from the rich and famous to ordinary citizens. Most lessons include three types of reproducible handouts: the first clearly lays out the decision-making scenarios; the second provides "outcomes," describing the decisions that people in the past made; and the third presents related primary source readings and/or images accompanied by analysis questions. Detailed teacher pages not only give step-by-step instructions for implementing each lesson but also provide lists of key vocabulary terms and famous people, discuss specific decision-making skills emphasized in the lesson, offer troubleshooting tips, present ideas for post-activity discussions, and furnish lists of related sources. Each lesson can be done either as an in-depth activity requiring two full class periods, or as a "quick motivator" requiring only 20–30 minutes.