Lesson:
Engage (5-10 minutes):
Allow students to spend some time thinking about the opening journal prompt:
- Name a decision you had to make in which you felt stuck making the decision. What about the decision made you feel stuck? Explain.
Students should write their answers on the handout or in their decision journals. This initial question will help set up the idea of binary thinking. Offer the opportunity for students to share. It would be good to walk around and warm call on a student who got stuck on something that could be considered binary thinking.
Apply (40–45 minutes):
What is Binary Thinking?
To start the lesson, let students explore what binary thinking is via the examples on the slides and give them time to read the attached article titled “Why Can’t We Talk to Each Other Anymore? How Binary Thinking is Dividing the World?”
Students will start to apply parts of the article that they just read. They should start by reflecting on the article with the following questions:
- Why is it important to think beyond binary thinking?
- Returning to the journal prompt situation where you’ve felt stuck, how could generating more options or considering other points of view help to shift your thinking when you’re feeling stuck?
Resisting Binary Thinking
After the article and reflection, students will fill in the table to think about when they might use binary thinking and the questions and biases that might surround those decisions. Ideally students can think of two situations that they could use. If students are stuck, you could share some examples, such as the one on the handout/slides to help them think of situations that might apply to them.
Generating Options
To help students think through some specific situations, the next piece is meant to generate multiple options for the given situations. Teachers can adapt the situations that best reflect the potential binary situations that students may face. It may be beneficial to leave this blank and allow students to use the same situations from the above table.
When students are done, encourage them to share with the class so everyone can hear the different options identified.
Reflect (5 minutes)
To wrap up the lesson, allow students some time to think back over the lesson and article and back to their opening journal prompt. Students should write down their answer on the handout or in their decision journals.
- What did you find easy or challenging about generating multiple options for your decisions? Explain and include connections to the article you read.
