What We Do > Decision Projects
Example Projects Demonstrating Decision Skills
DEF, its volunteers, and its partner institutions are making decision education a part of teenagers' lives.

In Omaha, Nebraska, learning about engineering can be an adventure for students. High school and middle school students have the opportunity to participate in the Student Initiative Mentoring Program (SIMP) to develop an engineering proposal with support from a professional in the field.

As a newly designated magnet school in Omaha, Nebraska, Morton Middle School gives its students the chance to practice decision skills in community projects and service learning activities. This decision science focus sets Morton apart from other middle schools in the area.

For the past five years, students in Bob Loew’s math classes at Foothill High School in Pleasanton, California, have been tackling a new subject that goes beyond the traditional basics. After they’ve completed their course requirements, Bob introduces them to an important, but largely neglected, life skill — how to make good decisions.

Most of us can remember a special place from our childhood -- a playground, a wild space, a vacation spot. But fewer among us can remember making an effort to save these places.

Eric Boggs is an outdoor educator, wilderness expedition leader, and kayak skills instructor, who has been a DEF supporter for several years. Last summer, Eric took the DEF Decision Quality Chain to the Alaskan wilderness, where he taught and applied the DEF model of quality decision-making.

The Haverford School Has Decision Skills throughout Curriculum
The Haverford School, an all boys preparatory school, adopted decision skills throughout the curriculum as a means of achieving their strategic aim to graduate students who Think Critically and Communicate Effectively.

Juvenile Detention uses Decision Skills for Social Intervention
At the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, the Peer Ambassadors Program, a youth leadership and social intervention initiative program, uses DEF decision skills principles training in developing young leaders. These leaders are then able and willing to mentor their peers who are at-risk for school failure or have had some involvement in the juvenile justice or mental health systems.