Decisions, Decisions is a 15-part educational
role-playing video game series by
Tom Snyder Productions, released from the 1980s to the early 2000s.
It has also been described as a "media-assisted
Simulation Game" series.
Development
While
Tom Snyder originally created games that would suit the "one-computer classroom" model, this series was part of a new gaming focus of "choice-driven discussion generators".
The software was designed specifically to foster academic discussions within the classroom.
[Harness the Power of Projectors and Interactive Whiteboards]
An
online learning extension named ''Decisions, Decisions Online'' was also created.
David Dockterman, VP and Chief Academic Officer of Tom Snyder Productions, commented "the series grew out of my frustration teaching high school history during the Iranian hostage crisis. I thought it would be valuable for my students to discuss what was happening in the world."
In 1999 a free service Decisions Decisions Online was released, which allowed students to discuss events taken from current headlines, with a new topic featured every month.
Hedrick Ellis, executive producer of Decisions, Decisions Online, was reluctant to introduce advertising, and instead noted that Tom Snyder Productions would eventually charge for the products.
In 2002 Tom Snyder Productions was bought by Scholastic, and this series fell under Scholastic's Interactive Educational Software division.
Realwordedtech suggested the series died out because it "was expensive to create and even more difficult for teachers to integrate an increasingly prescribed data-driven curriculum".
Gameplay
Each game puts the players (recommended to be a classroom) into a scenario based on actual facts and encourages them to come up with solutions.
An example is in the title ''Decisions, Decisions: Prejudice'', in which the players take the role of the mayor of a tourist town, in which a newspaper has editorialised against a business trading racial memorabilia.
Students discuss the problem in teams, then enter their strategies into the computer, which advances the story, leading to 300 alternate paths.
Members of the team receive booklets from the perspective of an adviser to the decision maker, for instance in ''Decisions,'' ''Decisions: The Environment'', they could be a
campaign manager
{{Political campaigning
A campaign manager, campaign chairman, or campaign director is a paid or volunteer individual whose role is to coordinate a political campaign's operations such as fundraising, advertising, polling, getting out the vote ( ...
, and environmentalist, a scientist, and an economist; players then debate this conflicting information to reach a justifiable compromise.
The games encourage a five step critical thinking process:
# Analyze the situation
# Determine and prioritise goals
# Consider their options
# Make a decision
# Examine the consequences
Follow-up activities include: taking quizzes, drawing
political cartoons, writing to state and federal legislators, seeing how others parts of the country voted on the issue, and research Web links.
Titles (incomplete)
* Decisions, Decisions: Current Issues
* Decisions, Decisions:
AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
* Decisions, Decisions: Colonization
* Decisions, Decisions: Immigration
* Decisions, Decisions: On the Campaign Trail
* Decisions, Decisions: Prejudice
* Decisions, Decisions: Revolutionary Wars
* Decisions, Decisions: Substance Abuse (also known as S.M.A.R.T. Choices)
* Decisions, Decisions: The Budget Process
* Decisions, Decisions: The Constitution
* Decisions, Decisions: The Environment
* Decisions, Decisions: Urbanization
* Decisions, Decisions: Violence in the Media
* Decisions, Decisions: Ancient Empires
* Decisions, Decisions: Drinking and Driving
Critical reception
''Education World'' gave ''Decisions, Decisions Online'' an A+, describing it as an effective online resource to stimulate the critical thinking skills of young people.
of USJ gave ''Decisions, Decisions – The Constitution'' 10/10, praising its ability to develop skills in
cooperative learning,
reading comprehension
Reading comprehension is the ability to process text, understand its meaning, and to integrate with what the reader already knows. Fundamental skills required in efficient reading comprehension are knowing meaning of words, ability to understand ...
,
oral communication,
problem-solving, and
decision-making
In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the Cognition, cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several possible alternative options. It could be ...
.
''Teaching TV Production in a Digital World: Integrating Media Literacy'' recommended the use of ''Decisions, Decisions: Violence in the Media'' within the school curriculum.
''Character Education in America's Blue Ribbon Schools'' felt the series effectively allowed students to work together in solving real world problems and analysing the results of their decisions.
Multimedia Schools said Decisions, Decisions Online is an "interesting, informative, and affordable" product.
The website was
The New York Times' featured site on January 5, 2000.
The
Washington Post reported that the series could be ground-breaking in the move from learning distinct subjects to a
synergistic
Synergy is an interaction or cooperation giving rise to a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts. The term ''synergy'' comes from the Attic Greek word συνεργία ' from ', , meaning "working together".
History
In Christi ...
approach, using all these skills to complete practical and realistic projects.
[ ]Macworld
''Macworld'' is a website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc. It started life as a print magazine in 1984 and had the largest audited circulation (both total and newsstand) of Macint ...
noted that ''Decisions, Decisions 5.0: The Constitution'' was not a replacement for a U.S. history textbook.
Awards
* 1988 SIIA CODiE Award for Best Middle or Secondary School Program – Decisions, Decisions Series
* 1997 Codie award
The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) is a trade association dedicated to the entertainment, consumer and business software industries. Established in 1984 as the Software Publishers Association (SPA), the SIIA took its new na ...
for excellence in technology
* 1998 Excellence in Software Award for Best Curriculum Software for Middle School – Decisions, Decisions: Ancient Empires
References
{{Reflist
1988 video games
1980s video games
Educational video games
Simulation video games
Role-playing video games
Video games developed in the United States
Tom Snyder Productions games