1. Thinking Critically
about our
Changing World
A Course for Secondary Students
Compiled by Daniel Yudkin
6/9/2010
dyudkin@gmail.com
PO Box 2007
Lenox, MA 01240
USA

2. THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT OUR CHANGING WORLD
CURRICULUM
A semester-long course for secondary students
Daniel Yudkin
6/9/2010
1. UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION
Note to teacher: this course exposes students to a
variety of subjects with a single goal in mind—to help them
think about both social issues and their own lives with
perspective. At secondary-school age (13-16) students are
already beginning to make choices that affect themselves and
their communities. Questions and decisions about things such as
drugs, sexual activity, dealing with money, and schoolwork
become increasingly important. Why is it better to wait until
later to have a child? Why is it important to save money?
Why is it important to invest in your education? As educators,
the best way to ensure young people make good decisions—
decisions that see past a desire for pleasure in the immediate
present and extend a student’s well-being far into the future—
isn’t to simply instruct them about the right action but rather
to give them the tools they need to make decisions for
themselves.
That’s the point of the class—to give students the tools
to make good decisions by giving them a broader sense of
themselves in the world. Problems come into sharper focus
when considered with a perspective that reaches beyond the
day-to-day and embraces a view of one’s entire life and one’s
place a community. Along the way, we’ll be examining things
from the standpoint of several different disciplines—economics,
business, environmental and social sciences, math, writing, and
even neuroscience. We’ll learn how to use mathematical
formulas, how to write effective essays, how our brains work,
and how the environment works. We’ll learn how to decide
between chips and fresco at the store, what the “frontal
cortex” is, why avocados cost more than mangos, why

3. cooperation is better than self-interest. In the end, even if
the details are forgotten, students will hopefully come away
with tools of perspective to help them make good decisions.
a. Define the title of the class.
b. The class has FOUR important words—THINK, CRITICAL,
CHANGE, WORLD
DEFINITIONS
i. THINK
1. To use your brain
ii. CRITICALLY
1. Using reasons for thinking something. Contrast with
thinking something on faith, or because someone tells
you to think it. Thinking critically means believing
things only when we have reason to believe them.
iii. CHANGING WORLD
1. Everything, big and small: from our houses to our
communities to our countries to our continents to the
entire globe: Change happens everywhere.
c. Examine the concept of Changing World: draw a chart on the
board.
CHANGES
SMALL MEDIUM BIG
We grow up New basketball
court in Pearl Lagoon
Barack Obama
elected President
Have a new
brother/sister
New road to Pearl
Lagoon
Earthquake in Haiti
Help mom with
laundry
Hurricane last year
Plant a tree Price of lobster has
gone down
d. Changes happen large and small.
e. Some changes we make ourselves

4. i. Elicit changes the class made themselves.
1. Possible examples include:
a. I planted a tree
b. I picked up a piece of trash
c. I helped my mom/dad clean the yard
d. I played with my little brother/sister.
ii. Circle this change on the board, and ask:
1. How did you make this change? Did you just do it
because someone told you to do it? No, you made a
decision to do it.
f. DECISIONS
i. What is a decision?
ii. To make a decision= to make a choice.
iii. Why are decisions important?
1. The decisions we make every day affect ourselves and
our community, so we need to make good ones.
iv. Who has made a decision recently?
1. Ask students about decisions they have made
recently and write them up on the board under the
heading “DECISIONS.”
a. EXAMPLES
i. Do homework/play with friends
ii. Go to school/sleep late
iii. Play basketball/take a nap
iv. Help a parent with chores/go fishing
v. Etc.
v. How should we make decisions?
1. We shouldn’t just make a decision from habit, or
because someone told us
2. We use: REASONS (Remind students what the word
“critically” means—using reasons)
3. There are two categories of reasons
a. PRO: A good reason (reason TO do something)
b. CON: Bad reasons (reason NOT to do
something)

5. c. Practice using PROS and CONS to help
students decide which decision to make.
EXAMPLE
Question: Should I go to school today?
PROs CONs
I will learn I don’t get to sleep late
I will see my friends I could be playing
basketball
I will plan for my future
4. In this table, the reasons TO go to school (PROs) are
far more important than the reasons not to go, and so
our decision should be to go to school.
5. This idea of listing the reasons for and against a
decision is an important one for the class.
Practice listing pros and cons on the board with the
class using other examples. Feel free to use the
examples below or your own examples.
EXAMPLE
Question: Should I bathe this morning?
PROs CONs
I will be clean The water is cold
I won’t smell bad I could be sleeping late
instead
It is good to practice
hygiene
EXAMPLE
Question: Should I buy an Eskimo bar?
PROs CONs
It tastes good It costs money
It’s nice It’s fattening and bad for
your body

6. vi. After students feel comfortable with evaluating the pros
and cons of a decision, they are ready to learn the
process that should be used to make good decisions. The
process consists of four “what” questions that students
should answer in order:
1. What is the problem?
a. The students must identify the problem that
they will be addressing. It could be something
big like “There is too much trash in Pearl
Lagoon” or something small like “Someone hit
me at recess.” In either case, there is a
problem that must be solved.
2. What are the choices?
a. What are the possible solutions to the
problem? As we saw earlier, when the problem
was someone hitting you at recess, the solutions
are: hit back, tell the teacher, and talk about it.
3. What are the pros and cons?
a. What are the reasons FOR and AGAINST each
possible choice? What are the reasons?
4. What is the solution?
a. This is the final step when students make the
decision about how to solve the problem.
Now practice each of these four steps with the examples below. Each
example should end with you circling one choice on the board after taking a
vote of which choice the students would prefer. It doesn’t necessarily have
to be the one circled here.
EXAMPLE
Problem: Someone pushed me at recess.
Push Back Tell Teacher Talk
PROs CONs PROs CONs PROs CONs
Step 1, Problem!
Step 2, Choices!
Step 3,pro/con !
Step 4, Circle

7. The person
learns his
lesson
Continuing
violence,
which is a
bad thing
Teacher
would know
how to solve
the problem
He might do
it again
You could
find out
why he hit
you and
solve the
problem
He might
not want
to talk
He could hit
you harder
Stop the
violence
He could
call you a
tattle-tale
You could
end up
being
friends
He might
think
you’re
afraid
EXAMPLE
Problem: Friend asks if he can cheat off you in a test
Let him cheat Tell the teacher Change Seats
PROs CONs PROs CONs PROs CONs
Maybe he’ll
let you
cheat off
him next
time
He won’t
learn
Teacher
might know
how to
solve the
problem
He would
be angry at
you
You could
avoid
confrontati
on
He might
be angry at
you
You can
help out
your friend
It’s wrong
to cheat
He would
be angry at
you
Don’t let
him cheat,
which is
wrong
He might
be angry at
you
EXAMPLE
Problem: You accidentally broke a toy that you borrowed from a friend.
Lie about it Tell the truth Buy her a new one
PROs CONs PROs CONs PROs CONs
She won’t
know
If she
finds out
you lied,
she’ll be
even
angrier
She might
understand
She might
be mad at
you
It’s the
right thing
to do
It costs
money
Step 1, Problem!
Step 2, Choices!
Step 3,pro/con!
Step 4, Circle
Step 1, Problem!
Step 2, Choices!
Step 3,pro/con!
Step 4, Circle

8. Note: Don’t worry if students are still tempted to circle the choice that
may be considered “wrong,” like hitting back. At this point, the important
thing is to help them get comfortable with evaluating the consequences of
their decisions, not to pressure them into making the ones that are “right.”
vii. After students feel comfortable with this four-step
decision-making process, they should be able to do this in
groups.
viii. ACTIVITY
1. Divide students into groups of 4.
2. Tell them to tear out on piece of paper which will be
used for the entire group.
3. Together, the group will solve a series of problems
you write on the board. Each student will be
responsible for writing one of the steps on the piece
of paper. One student will be in charge of writing the
problem at the top; one of thinking of the possible
choices; one of listing the pros and cons of each
choice, and one will be responsible for taking a vote
for the group and circling the solution they think is
best.
a. Possible problems (feel free to choose your own
as well)
i. What do you do if you find out someone
stole money from your desk?
ii. What do you do if someone stole your
bike after school?
iii. Would you rather eat watermelon or rice
and beans?
iv. What do you do if you find out your
boyfriend/girlfriend is cheating on you?
v. What do you do if someone offers you to
smoke weed?
ix. THIS UNIT FINISHES WITH A TEST THAT EACH
STUDENT TAKES INDIVIDUALLY, WHICH CONSISTS OF
PRACTICE PROBLEMS. THE STUDENTS SHOULD BE ABLE

9. TO WRITE EACH OF THE FOUR STEPS: STATE THE
PROBLEM, LIST THE CHOICES, LIST THE PROS AND
CONS OF EACH CHOICE, AND FINALLY MAKE A
DECISION.
2. UNIT 2: PROBLEMS IN OUR COMMUNITY
a. In this unit, students will be considering the kinds of problems
that face a small developing community like Pearl Lagoon, will be
thinking of ways of solving these problems, and will finish with an
activity that highlights a common cause to all of the problems.
i. Begin by asking for student opinions
ii. What do you think is the biggest problem in Pearl Lagoon?
iii. Some possible student responses, which you should write up
in a list on the board:
1. Crime
2. Drugs
3. Cutting down trees
4. Contamination of water supply
5. Trash on the streets
6. Losing culture
7. Overfishing in the lagoon
8. Exploitation by large corporations
9. Young pregnancy
b. Now that there is a list on the board, spend a few minutes
discussing which problems are greatest and why. Next class, the
students will practice writing essays about which problem they
think is the biggest one in Pearl Lagoon.
i. Some instructions for writing essays:
1. Students should pay attention to using correct
grammar: sentences should be separated by periods,
and should not be run-on sentences.
2. The essay should begin with a “topic” sentence, a
sentence that states the main idea of the essay. For
example, a student could write for her topic sentence,
“I believe that the biggest problem in Pearl Lagoon is
young pregnancy.”

10. 3. Following the introduction sentence, the essay should
contain paragraphs each stating a reason supporting
the topic sentence, e.g., “One reason young pregnancy
is bad it that it limits opportunities for both the
mother and the child.”
4. The essay should conclude with a proper conclusion
sentence that summarizes the points made in the
essay.
ii. Allow one full class period as time for students to create
their essays. The following class period, discuss some of
their written ideas and correct common errors made by
the group.
c. The class is now ready to learn about a special phenomenon that
describes many of the problems faced by growing communities,
called “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Students will learn about
the tragedy of the commons through a simple and fun activity.
i. Tragedy of the commons activity
1. For this game, all you need is about fifty beans.
Before the activity begins, ask students to take out
their notebooks and draw the following table:
2.
Game
Round Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4
1 1
ii. The set-up of the game is as follows. At the center of the
classroom, arrange a square table with four chairs. Ask for

11. four student volunteers to sit in each of the four chairs.
These are the players. The rest of the class gathers
standing in a circle about the table with their notebooks.
iii. Say the following to the class: We will now be playing a game
to see how well people work together. I will place 8 beans in
the center of the table. Players will take turns in a circle
around the table. We will start with player 1 (choose a
Player 1). When it is your turn, you may take as many beans
as you like from the center of the table and place them
front of you as your own. The game ends when there are no
beans left in the center of the table. At the end of class,
the person who has taken the most beans from the center of
the table will win a prize. One final rule: each time there
are still beans left on the table after all four players have
taken a turn, I will double it. If there is 1 bean left, I will
put another 1 in; if there are 4 beans left, I will put 4 in,
etc.
iv. Direct Player 1 to start. Usually what happens is after two
or three turns, the game is over quickly because the first
players have taken them all. Observing students should
begin recording in their tables how many beans each player
has in front of them. The table should look something like
this:
v.
Game
Round Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4
1 1 3 4 1 Game over
2 1
vi. Get four more volunteers. Allow them each to begin play.
Usually what will happen is that Player 1 will begin to simply
take all 8 beans on the first turn and the game will be over
right away. To save time let each person have a turn being
Player 1. Continue keeping track of players’ beans. The
table might look like this:

12. Game
Round Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4
1 1 3 4 1 Game over
2 1 8 Game over
3 1 8 Game over
4 1 8 Game over
5 1 8 Game over
vii. At some point students should begin to realize that there
must be some other point to the game than each player
taking 8 beans and starting again. Remind students again
about the final rule: I will double the number of beans in the
center at the end of every round.
viii. Get four more volunteers. I need four volunteers: people
who think not just about themselves but about the
community.
ix. After a few more rounds the table might look like this:
Game
Round Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4
1 1 3 4 1 Game over
2 1 8 Game over
3 1 8 Game over
4 1 8 Game over
5 1 8 Game over
6 1 3 2 3 Game over
7 1 2 2 1 1
2 4 2 Game over
x. The trick, of course, is that if each player takes only a
single bean on each turn, then the beans will return to their
original 8 at the end of each round and players can continue
taking beans indefinitely. Finally, the table may look like
this:

13. Game
Round Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4
1 1 3 4 1 Game over
2 1 8 Game over
3 1 8 Game over
4 1 8 Game over
5 1 8 Game over
6 1 3 2 3 Game over
7 1 2 2 1 1
2 4 2 Game over
8 1 1 1 1 1
2 2 2 2 2
3 3 3 3 3
4 4 4 4 4
5 5 5 5 5
6 6 6 6 6
7 7 7 7 7
8 8 8 8 8
9 9 9 9 9
10 10 10 10 10
11 11 11 11 11
12 12 12 12 12
13 13 13 13 13
xi. All four players of this final game are the winners and
should receive a prize.
xii. What does this game show us? What do the beans here
represent? What increases if you leave it alone but dies if
you take too much?
xiii. Possible answers: fish, trees, crops, etc.
xiv. This game shows us a very important law in the world about
communities like ours. It’s called the Tragedy of the
Commons.
1. Tragedy of the commons: a law that states that
common resources will be destroyed if a community
doesn’t cooperate. It shows that if everyone takes

14. more than they need, soon common resources will be
ruined. Instead, everyone should take merely what is
required, and leave enough for everybody else as well.
xv. (A variant of the game, showing that people should also think
about their communities in the waste they generate, is as
follows: students begin in the same setup except each
student begins with 3 paper clips in front of them
(symbolizing waste in their back yards) and nothing in the
center, which is the communal space. At the beginning of
their turn students receive one clip, to symbolize added
waste that they have generated. During their turn, students
have 2 choices: to either place 2 clips in the center
(symbolizing public waste and littering) or bury 1 clip
themselves (give back to teacher). After each round the
town is able to clean 2 pieces from the center, the rest
remain. Every 3rd
round, “wind” comes and blows all the
trash that was in the center back into the player’s yards.
The player with the least trash in their yards at the end of
all games is the winner.)
3. UNIT 3: THE HUMAN BRAIN
a. This short unit is designed to be a change of pace from
b. This is a short unit that teaches students about their brains. The
idea behind this is that learning is about using your brain, just like
using a tool. And how can we use our brains if we don’t know how
they work?! It’s important for students to have a grasp of the
basic functions of their brains as they move forward and develop
their critical thinking skills.
c. This week we’ll be learning about the most important tool in the
human body: the brain.
d. Some facts about the brain
i. It weighs about 3 pounds
ii. It is split into two halves, and is symmetrical just like the
rest of our body (we all have two eyes, two arms, etc.)
iii. New cells continue to grow in the brain for our whole life
iv. It is wrinkly

15. 1. Ask the class why they think the brain may be
wrinkly. A useful demonstration is to take a blank
sheet of paper and show the class its size. Then
crumple it up into a little ball—to fit something
large into a small space (our skull) it must be
crumpled! Same thing with our brains—they fit a
lot of brain-matter (important for thinking) inside
our little heads. Ask the class to imagine what
human beings would look like without wrinkly brains.
They would all be walking around with enormous
heads!
v. The brain is divided into six main parts.
1. The brain stem, in the furthest back part of the
brain, is responsible for reflexes, breathing,
heartbeat—things we don’t have to think about.
2. The cerebellum, also in back, is in charge of movement
and balance.
3. Temporal lobe: memory and language comprehension
4. Occipetal lobe: Vision and recognizing objects and
faces
5. Parietal Lobe: Spatial relationships, other senses
6. Frontal Lobe: Reasoning, problem solving, decision-
making, critical thinking
a. (We can deduce that this class is most
concerned with the Frontal Lobe)
vi. ACTIVITY: Make copies of the attached blank sheet and
have students color and label the appropriate areas of the
brain and list their function.

16. vii. The brain is made up of special cells called neurons. Biology
teaches us that every living thing is made of cells. These
cells look a little different, however.
viii. A few things to know about neurons.
1. They are responsible for carrying chemical signals
inside the brain—the signals that let us do everything:
see, hear, feel, and think!
2. One signal will travel down many, many neurons.
3. The signal starts in the Dendrite of the neuron, and
travels down the axon to the axon terminal, the end
of the neuron. At this point the signal must cross a
gap, called a synapse, to make it to the dendrite of
the next neuron.
4.

17. 5. Connections between neurons are always changing: old ones
are dying out and new ones are being created.
6. The connections between neurons correspond to who we are:
our thoughts, behavior, and feelings.
7. Knowing these things about the brain brings us to a very
important rule that is the takeaway point of this subject:
8. THE BRAIN IS LIKE A MUSCLE
a. Why is the brain like a muscle?
b. Answer: Consider a comparison to basketball. In this
sport, we are continually practicing, training our muscles
to become stronger and more accurate. Muscles that
are used more become stronger and more developed,
while muscles that aren’t used become weak. The brain
is the same way! Parts of the brain we use a lot,
through lots and lots of practice, become strong. This
is why we learn: to practice using our brains, and to ex
to practice using our brains, and to exercise them like a
muscle so that they will be strong for our entire lives.
With this in mind, we can turn back to using our brains
to Think Critically about our Changing World, and turn
to the next unit of the class.

18. 4. UNIT 3: Economics
a. Note: In this unit students will be exposed to simplified
versions of economic laws. Thinking about a community from an
economic perspective sheds light on many issues—where jobs
are, which businesses are likely to be successful, why large
corporations act the way they do, etc.
b. What is economics?
i. Economics is a wide-ranging subject that deals with
products—anything people make, buy, and sell. Ask the
class for examples of products: mangos, shoes, gasoline,
FAB, fresco, candy, pens, etc. Anything you see in a store.
c. Three important concepts in economics are: supply, demand, and
price.
1. Supply: how much of a product is for sale.
2. Demand: how much of a product is wanted by
consumers (the people who buy)
3. Price: how much a product costs.
4. Example: Why does a name-brand pair of shoes (Nike,
Adidas) cost more than an unknown brand? While the
quality and cost of manufacturing may be a factor, the
most important reason is that the demand for Nike
shoes is greater than the demand for generic shoes—
and thus the price is higher. This brings us to the
first law of economics that we will learn:
a. When Demand for a product is high, the price
of that product is high. If demand is low, price
is low.
5. Second example: why does a mango less than an
avocado (“pear” in Creole)? They’re about the same
size, and mangos taste better. The answer is that
avocados are hard to grow while mangos are easy to
grow—many mangos can be supplied, while few
avocados can be. Thus the second rule is:

19. a. When supply for a product is high, the price of
that product is low. If supply is low, price is
high.
6. We can summarize these rules as follows: demand and
price move together, supply and price move apart.
ii. So, what do these rules show us? They tell us why things
cost what they do.
1. Example: Right now in Pearl Lagoon shrimp cost
approximately C$25 a pound, and about 100 pounds
are sold per day. Imagine that ten years from now
contamination of the water supply and over-fishing
causes the shrimp population to go down. Now
fishermen can only catch 50 pounds of shrimp per day.
What will happen to the price of shrimp? That’s
right—it will go up to around C$50 a pound. Why?
Because the supply of shrimp has gone down, and as
we learned in rule #2, when supply is low, price is high.
2. What happens to the price of beans if a disease
causes the supply to go down? (Answer: price goes up)
iii. Make sure that students understand these fundamental
concepts before moving on to the following.
iv. A simple formula we can use to describe the relationship
between price, supply and demand is:
PRICE= DEMAND x K
SUPPLY
v. What is K? K is a constant. It’s a number that, depending
on which situation you’re describing, determines the
relationship between the other three variables. For
example, if we’re talking about cassava, which sell for C$5 a
pound, and if both supply and demand in a given day in Pearl
Lagoon equal 100, then, plugging these numbers into the
formula and solving for K, we find that K=5
1. Note: This formula is not 100% accurate. It
describes generally the relationship between price,

20. supply, and demand. Professional economists use
much more complex formulas involving all kinds of
other data to make accurate predictions. The
important thing for students to take away from
these exercises is the idea that these three
concepts—price, demand, and supply—are related,
and to have practice working with the kinds of
formulas that frequently occur in economics.
Ultimately, while students may forget the precise
formula, they should remember these things.
vi. PRACTICE QUESTIONS
1. A gallon of gas currently costs about C$110, and
supply and demand are both 1000. What will happen
to the price of oil if a war in Iraq causes the supply of
oil to decrease to 500?
a. Step 1: Find K.
i. 110 = (1000/1000) x K.
ii. K = 110
b. Step 2: Plug the new amount of supply into the
formula with the other values remaining the
same:
PRICE = (1000/500) x 110
PRICE = 220
2. Casava costs C$5 a pound when the population
(demand) in Pearl Lagoon is 6000 and the supply is
100. If the population goes to 10,000 10 years from,
what will happen to the price of cassava assuming the
supply remains the same?
a. Step 1: Find K.
i. 5 = (6000/100) x K.
ii. K = .0083
b. Step 2: Plug new values and solve for Price.
i. PRICE = (10,000/100) x .0083
ii. PRICE = 8.3
vii. TEST ATTACHED
d. TOURISM

21. 1. Introduction: tourism is sure to be a growing factor in
the Pearl Lagoon economy in the coming years. In this
class students will think critically about the changes
that will occur in the community as a result of
tourism.
2. You may lead in to talking about tourism using the
following example:
a. A man runs a hospidaje in town with 5 rooms.
He charges C$150 per night and the hospidaje
is always full. 3 years from now each night
there are 10 people who want to stay in the
hospidaje but only 5 rooms. What can the man
do to keep his rooms full but earn more money?
TOURISM
PROS CONS
Helps the economy by bring
money and jobs to the
community
A risk of losing the way of
life
Allows people here to learn
about other cultures from
the visitors
Possible increase in crime
and theft
Raises awareness about
Pearl Lagoon in the world
A risk of losing the culture
Etc. Etc.
e. Short vs. Long-term
i. As an introduction, have each student fill out the attached
sheet.
ii. Economics tells us that planning for the future and thinking
in the long-term is better than just thinking about today.
iii. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the present
and future reward. Why do some students want to take the
reward now instead of waiting? Often it makes more sense
to wait a few days to have a bigger reward.

22. 5. UNIT 5: The Environment
a. In this unit we will shift our focus to the problems of waste and
resource management in the community.
i. CYCLES
1. Everything in nature works in cycles
a. The water cycle
i. Water starts in the lagoon. Through
evaporation it becomes gas and goes into
the air. When the water vapor
condenses, it falls back to earth as rain,
and part of this water gets collected by
rainwater collectors. It is drunk by
humans, expelled as waste, filtered
through the ground, and eventually
trickles back into the lagoon.
b. The tree cycle
i. A tree begins as a seed. With three
ingredients (water, light, and soil), the
seed will sprout into a sapling, or baby
tree. After the tree matures, it bears
fruit, which is just a delicious carrying
case for the seed. The fruit falls to
earth, and after many years the tree
dies and also falls to the ground.
Through a process called decomposition
the dead tree is eaten by micro-
organisms and turned back into soil,
which nourishes the seeds of other
trees.
c. The petroleum cycle
i. This cycle is made by humans. Petroleum,
or oil, is taken from the ground by a big
pump and brought to a factory where it is
refined. From here several things can
happen. It can be used as gasoline for
cars, or it can be turned into plastic for

23. bottles, bags, and other products. Many
of these products are used and then
thrown away, resulting in waste that
breaks the loop and interrupts the cycle.
By reducing, reusing, and recycling these
products, we can continue the cycle and
make sure these products don’t clog up
our environment.
2. The Case of the Broken Loop
a. Note: This is an excellent activity to
perform with students to get them familiar
with key terms concerning the environment.
See the web address below and print out a
copy for each student. For preparation, turn
to the answer page of the worksheet and
write out important definitions on the board
for students to take down in their notes.
They will use these notes to solve the clues
presented in the worksheet. (Example: Waste
– Food scraps, soiled paper, and other things
you throw away (p. 2); Environment – Your
world, surroundings, and source of life and
health (p. 3)). Once students are familiar
with general definitions, split the class into
four groups of equal ability. Hand a packet
to each student (remove the answer sheet in
the back) and instruct them that the puzzle
on each page will be performed as its own
competition. 4 points to the 1st-finishing
team, 3 points to 2nd
place, 2 to 3rd
place, 1
to 4th
place. The team with the most points
at the end of the whole worksheet gets a
prize.

24. b. BAG IT! Workshop
i. In this activity, students will learn how much trash they
make and calculate how much the school makes each year.
1. Preparation: give each student a plastic bag and tell
them to collect all the waste they make for an entire
day. At the end of the day, using the attached
worksheet, have students write down how much of
each type of trash they made. Then, multiply these
figures appropriately to calculate sums for the school
for a day, a week, a month, and a year.
6. FINAL UNIT: Making good decisions and the future of Pearl Lagoon
a. Ask students to imagine their lives and Pearl Lagoon in 10 years.
How old will they be? Where will they live? What kind of clothes
will they wear?
b. On the board, ask them to imagine what Pearl Lagoon will look like
under two scenarios: if we make good decisions, and if we make
bad decisions.
c.
Pearl Lagoon in ten years
Good Decisions Bad Decisions
Clean Trash everywhere
Lots of trees and grass Brown grass, no trees
Health Center is a hospital Violence
Nice paved road, not too many Contaminated lagoon, dirty

25. cars water
Lots of fish No fish
Nice houses Poverty
d. After completing the list on the board, students will write two
essays or draw pictures depicting how they imagine Pearl Lagoon to
be in ten years. Encourage them to use their imaginations—maybe
we will have big bridges in our community to get from one place to
another…Maybe the cancha will turn into a big gymnasium…Maybe
there will be a large tourist center…anything could happen!
e. Now we wrap up the point of the class. After a review, the main
point is to tie in the idea that the decisions that students make
has a direct impact on their lives and the future of their
community. We’ve already learned a bit about making decisions,
but there’s one more important point to drive home, which is a
crucial difference between good and bad decisions.
i. Bad decisions are ones that make you happy in the present
but make you sad for a long time in the future:
Bad decisions
Drugs
Underage sex
Skipping class
Wasting money on unimportant things
ii. Good decisions are ones that sacrifice something in the
present for happiness in the future. Elicit from the class
examples of good decisions:
GOOD DECISIONS
Getting an Education
Cleaning the house
Training for a sport
Saving money instead of spending it
Planting a tree

26. We already know what will happen in the future if we make bad
decisions. Let’s make good ones and give the most to our lives and to
our community.