Check out You Decide: Presidential Decisions, an interactive experience in which students take on the role of the President of the United States and make complex decisions based on real situations faced by President Gerald R. Ford during his 1974-1977 presidency: the signing of the Helsinki Accords, the condemnation of South African apartheid, and Operation Babylift. The interactive experience also includes an educator guide to engage students in grades 6-12 with the interactive both in and out of the classroom. The guide includes information about the role of the facilitator, as well as game play setup for independent play, small group play, and whole class play. Activity ideas and discussion questions are organized into before, during, and after play.
Decisions is an excellent companion to the social studies classroom, particularly any study of the Cold War era. It also highlights the importance of human rights to President Ford, and can lead to discussions about these rights and how presidents can advocate for issues that are important to them. The focus on decision-making in this interactive offers a way to introduce a powerful process that can be used in students’ own decision-making, or in analyzing decisions they may read about in historical context or in current events.
