STARTER PACK: STEM TEACHERS

Help students use evidence, probability, and data to make better decisions

Decision Education gives science, technology, engineering, and math teachers practical tools to help students explore uncertainty, test assumptions, compare solutions, and make thoughtful choices with evidence.

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Download our STEM Decision-Making Activity

Use this activity in your STEM classroom to easily accompany content you already teach, and support students in building strong decision-making skills.

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Conversation prompts for STEM Classrooms

Use these questions during labs, modeling tasks, coding projects, engineering challenges, data analysis, or math problem-solving.

“What are we trying to optimize?”

STEM decisions often involve competing goals. Help students define success before they test, calculate, or build.

  1. What outcome matters most?
  2. What constraints do we have?
  3. What trade-offs are acceptable?

“What does the data actually show?”

Help students separate evidence from assumptions and notice when the data is incomplete, noisy, or uncertain.

  1. What pattern do we see?
  2. How reliable is the measurement?
  3. What else could explain this result?

“What is the base rate?”

Before students make a prediction, ask them to look at how similar situations have turned out before.

  1. What happened in similar cases?
  2. What reference class should we use?
  3. How should that change our estimate?

“What would make us update?”

In science and engineering, stronger thinking means changing course when new evidence appears.

  1. What result would surprise us?
  2. What new data would change our plan?
  3. What should we test next?

Featured Lesson

The Numbers We Know

STEM + DECISION-MAKING

The Numbers We Know

Students use familiar numerical anchors to think more clearly about likelihood, probability, and degrees of confidence.

MATHEMATICAL REASONING + PROBABILITY

Help students quantify uncertainty and make better predictions

These resources support probability, statistics, estimation, data literacy, and mathematical modeling.

LESSON PLAN

Thinking Probabilistically

Students practice applying probability concepts to real-world situations so they can reason more clearly under uncertainty.

LESSON PLAN

Breaking Down Base Rates

Students learn to use prior data and similar cases before making predictions, a foundational habit for statistics and scientific reasoning.

LESSON PLAN

Degrees of Confidence, Expected Value, and Expected Utility

Students will learn to apply degrees of confidence to predictions and use expected value/utility calculations in decision-making. Through interactive exercises and real-world scenarios, they will develop skills in assigning probability estimates and evaluating outcomes quantitatively to make more informed choices.

Decision Education is a way of teaching students skills they’ll use throughout their lives. My students don’t just memorize formulas—they learn how to think through decisions, understand their own biases, and navigate complex situations. This approach is invaluable, especially for young people preparing to navigate an increasingly complicated world.

Daniel Giddings
Mathematics Teacher

SCIENCE INQUIRY AND EVIDENCE

Give students tools to test assumptions and revise explanations

Science learning depends on gathering evidence, comparing explanations, and updating beliefs when better data appears.

LESSON PLAN

Using the Outside View to Predict

Students compare the inside view with the outside view and use base rates to make more accurate predictions.

LESSON PLAN

Updating Your Thinking

Students learn why changing their minds in response to new evidence is a strength in science, design, and problem-solving.

RESOURCE

Beginning to Gather and Analyze Information

Help students identify what information they need, gather relevant evidence, and use it to make sense of a question or problem.

TECHNOLOGY AND DIGITAL DECISIONS

Help students use technical tools with better judgment

STEM students need to understand not just how technology works, but when to trust outputs, how to check assumptions, and where human judgment still matters.

LESSON PLAN

Digital Citizenship and Responsible Online Behavior

Students consider how digital decisions shape outcomes and learn to approach online behavior with greater care and responsibility.

RESOURCE

Impact of Technology and Media on Decision-making

Students develop critical awareness of how media framing and technology influence their decision-making processes. Help students become more discerning consumers of digital media and make more informed decisions in an increasingly technology-driven world.

CLASSROOM TOOL

Evaluating Information and Sources Critically

Students distinguish reliable from unreliable information and identify bias or faulty reasoning in sources, data claims, and AI outputs.

PODCAST EPISODES

Listen and bring STEM decision-making into the classroom

These episodes connect to AI, mathematics, neuroscience, analytics, and scientific reasoning.

AI + DATA SCIENCE

Decision Scope, Artificial Intelligence, and Magic Spells with Cassie Kozyrkov

A strong fit for exploring data-driven organizations, AI, programming, and the human decisions behind technical systems.

MATH + PROBABILITY

The Science of Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg

A mathematician and entrepreneur discusses evidence-based tools, Bayesian thinking, AI, and clearer judgment.

ANALYTICS + OPTIMIZATION

Mastering the Game Plan with Paraag Marathe

A sports executive discusses how analytics-based decision-making helps teams compare options and improve outcomes.

NEUROSCIENCE

Unlocking the Brain with Dr. David Eagleman

A neuroscientist explains how the brain processes information, imagines the future, and shapes decisions.

PROBABILITY + FORECASTING

Probabilities vs. Absolutes with Ted Seides

A conversation on prediction, overconfidence, premortems, and making decisions in probabilistic environments.

PERSUASION + IDENTITY

The Science of a Good Explanation with Tania Lombrozo

A cognitive scientist explores why explanations help us learn and when they can mislead us.

EXPLORE ALL TEACHING RESOURCES

Connect Decision Education to what you already teach

By giving students practical tools to evaluate information, consider multiple perspectives and options, weigh trade-offs, and reason through uncertainty, teachers can help students make thoughtful decisions in the classroom and beyond.

Teaching Resources

We’ve created over 40 lesson and unit plans designed to integrate Decision Education with core and other subject areas across grades.

Decision Education K–12 Learning Standards

Written by educators and researchers, the Decision Education Standards provide a framework for what K-12 students should know and be able to do, with respect to learning how to be effective decision makers.

Decision Education Crosswalks

Our crosswalks identify significant alignment and illustrate how Decision Education can be integrated into existing curriculum, instruction, and assessment based on their nationwide usage and grade level alignment.

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