Tag: decision analyis

  • Generation A – Making decisions easier for young people

    Generation A – Making decisions easier for young people

    BAYREUTH. Can young people even make decisions for themselves – and make good decisions for themselves? Of course, says Prof. Johannes Siebert, and has a task for the audience: a young person wants to play computer games with his friends at the weekend. The young people call it “gaming”. However, he has not performed the best at school in the past year – and there is an important math exam just after the gaming weekend. Should parents allow it or not? The listeners clearly say no. What happens in a family? The parents say, if you promise to cram for at least two hours every day until the Zock weekend, then we’ll allow it. But who makes the decision? “The parents,” says Siebert. But there is a way for young people to gain control over the decision themselves. They can suggest that they study until the Thursday before the gambling weekend – and then have their parents listen to them. If he has mastered the material, he can gamble. If not – no gambling.

    Johannes Siebert works at the Management Center Innsbruck and is a private lecturer at the University of Bayreuth. He advises the Pentagon and is a columnist for Focus magazine. At the University of Bayreuth, he is in charge of the “Klug entscheiden!” research project. He says that making smart decisions can change your life. That’s why he wants to strengthen young people’s decision-making skills. Put simply: if young people can make good decisions, they can also make better decisions in their education. This leads to fewer young people dropping out of training, fewer failures – and they become happier.

    Fewer options desired

    Sounds simple and is easier than expected. The project is already being implemented in many schools, and there will soon be two “lighthouse schools” in Kulmbach. Pupils break down complex decisions into small steps. Problem: The kids are “bombarded” with options for action – such as tens of thousands of study options. “But if they don’t have the skills,” warns Siebert, “all the options go nowhere come to nothing.” The principle is similar to that of online shoe retailer Zalando: the more criteria you specify, the smaller the selection. Until the right shoe comes out……

    The complete, excellent article by chief reporter Otto Lapp from the Nordbayerichen Kurier can be found here: https://www.kurier.de/inhalt.generation-a-lost-am-handy-oder-was.210c70c8-81d9-4def-a5a3-b36ea31fb743.html

  • “KLUGentscheiden!” research project: empowering high school students’ study and career choices

    “KLUGentscheiden!” research project: empowering high school students’ study and career choices

    Making the right decisions in your own life is something that can be learned. The project “KLUGentscheiden!” at the University of Bayreuth shows: Young people who receive systematic training in decision-making skills shortly before leaving school consider their abilities and long-term interests far more thoroughly when choosing a course of study or vocational training than if they spontaneously follow their own wishes or simply trust the recommendations of others. In the coming weeks, the regional cooperation with selected schools that has been successfully established in the project will be further intensified and expanded.

    The coordinator of “KLUG entscheiden!” is Prof. Dr. Johannes Siebert, who set up the project at the University of Bayreuth and now teaches and researches at the MCI Management Center Innsbruck. Dr. Manuel Friedrich, head of the didactics of economics at the University of Bayreuth, is responsible for the didactics. The project is financially supported by the Adalbert Raps Foundation, the Rainer Markgraf Foundation, and the Upper Franconia Foundation and will be continued until the end of 2024 in cooperation with the University of Bayreuth.

    Decision-making training for students

    Many years of research on the theory and practice of decision-making form the basis for sound advice to teachers as well as for the design and implementation of workshops with students. A study coordinated by Siebert and published in “Decision Sciences – Journal of Innovative Education” proves the effectiveness of two-day workshops in which students from upper secondary level vocational schools in the region participated.

    The complete press release of the University of Bayreuth, written by Christian Wissler, can be found here.

    https://www.uni-bayreuth.de/press-releases/KLUG-entscheiden