Engaging Students in Critical Thinking and Decision-Making with the $100 Test

The $100 Test is an interactive and creative exercise designed to foster teamwork, communication, and critical thinking. Teachers can easily adapt this activity in their classrooms, helping students learn to prioritize, make decisions, and justify their choices. Here’s how you can incorporate this activity into your classroom for maximum impact:

This exercise enhances decision-making, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, while promoting teamwork and active communication.

Step-by-Step for Teachers:

1. Present a Real-World Scenario: Introduce a topic or challenge that requires students to prioritize options. For example, it could be a list of class projects, historical events to study, or topics for a research paper. Using real-world scenarios adds relevance and boosts engagement.

2. Divide the Class into Groups: Organize students into groups of 3-5, encouraging diverse opinions and collaboration. This small group dynamic promotes teamwork, communication, and active listening.

3. Explain the $100 Decision Process: Each group is given an imaginary $100 to allocate across the list of items, with the amount reflecting the importance they assign to each option. Have students provide a brief explanation for their decisions—this step encourages deeper reflection and ensures their choices are well thought out.

4. Set a 30-Minute Time Limit: Allow groups 20-30 minutes to discuss and allocate their values. This timeframe promotes focused discussions while keeping energy levels high.

5. Group Debrief and Review: Once time is up, collect the group results and lead a class-wide discussion, tallying up the total amounts allocated to each item. Facilitate the conversation to help students see different perspectives and reasoning.

6. Reflection and Next Steps: Highlight the top two or three most prioritized items, encouraging students to reflect on why these stood out. Use this as a springboard for deeper discussions, or even as a launch point for a class project or new unit.

Why This Activity Works in the Classroom:

This exercise enhances decision-making, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, while promoting teamwork and active communication. It’s highly adaptable to any subject—from history to science—and provides a creative way to encourage participation. By having students explain their choices, they practice persuasive reasoning and gain a better understanding of group dynamics.

Using the $100 Test to Empower Teachers and Build Collaborative Leadership

For educational leaders, the $100 Test is a powerful tool for engaging teachers in decision-making and fostering a collaborative school culture. This activity can be incorporated into staff meetings or professional development sessions to help teams prioritize school initiatives, curriculum changes, or professional development topics.

How Principals and Educational Leaders Can Use the $100 Test:

1. Identify Key Topics or Goals: Begin with a list of important initiatives or goals that require input, such as professional development topics, school improvement priorities, or budget allocations.

2. Create Teacher Teams: Divide the faculty into small groups, encouraging collaboration across departments and grade levels to bring diverse perspectives into the discussion.

3. Introduce the $100 Test: Provide each group with an imaginary $100 to distribute across the identified goals or topics. Ask for brief rationales to give insight into the thought process behind their choices. This can help leaders understand what matters most to their teachers.

4. Facilitate Group Discussion: After groups finish assigning values, collect the results and facilitate a discussion. Highlight the highest-ranked priorities and open up the conversation for reflection and idea-sharing, creating a transparent decision-making environment.

5. Action Planning: Use the top-prioritized items to develop an action plan for moving forward. This method ensures that teacher voices are heard and reflected in the school’s key decisions, fostering buy-in and collaboration.

Why This Works for School Leaders:

The $100 Test gives school leaders a practical way to engage teachers in meaningful decision-making. By creating a space where all voices are valued, leaders build a culture of trust and shared ownership. This exercise provides quick, actionable insights into what teachers value most, empowering school leaders to align their strategies with staff priorities. Moreover, it encourages a collaborative approach that makes everyone feel like an integral part of the process.

Whether you are working with students to enhance critical thinking or collaborating with teachers to make school-wide decisions, the $100 Test offers a dynamic and effective approach to prioritization. It’s a simple yet powerful way to gather insights, drive discussions, and take actionable steps toward shared goals.