Think, Act, Impact

A framework for understanding the impact of thoughts

There are many ways to use this...

Social Studies, History: Analyze cause and effect in historical or current events
Language Arts: Character analysis
Engineering and Design: Analyze the impact of design choices, consider the social or political factors influencing design decisions
Science: Consider the impact of a scientific theory historically; identify the thinking (social, political, etc.) influencing scientific decisions or resistance to a scientific discovery
Personal Reflection: To reflect on a choice or a reaction

PURPOSE: Use this framework to analyze the impact of a thought (i.e., a specific belief or assumption) on historical decisions, character choices, current events, or yourself.

SKILLS

Civic Literacy
Media Literacy
Critical Thinking
Perspective Taking (intellectual empathy)
Decision analysis
Reading Comprehension
Writing

GRADE

4-12 (and younger with modifications)

PREP TIME REQUIRED

As little as 5 minutes

EST. TIME

5-10 minutes (as exit ticket)
or build a lesson around it

SUBJECTS

Social Studies, History
Language Arts
Engineering and Design
Science
Advisory
and more!

THOUGHT: One thought ________ (person or group of people) had is…

→ ACTION: This caused them to…

→ IMPACT: One impact of this action was…

AT A GLANCE:

WHAT STUDENTS DO

Identify thoughts
While reading or watching source material (primary or secondary historical account, the news, a novel) look out for interesting and important thoughts (assumptions, beliefs).
Analyze actions and impacts
Using the novel, or primary or secondary sources, find evidence that demonstrate the actions and impacts (effects) of the thought. Here, students are trying to fill a desk with sticky notes of quotes/evidence.
Use the framework to create statements that put it all together. Teachers can provide sentence stems, a graphic organizer, or prompting questions.

EXAMPLE

Gandhi thought “WE SHOULD AIM TO CHANGE THINGS NOT TO PUNISH.” Therefor he...

SLIDEDECK OF EXAMPLES

VARIATION

PURPOSE: Use this framework to support personal reflection on the impact of one's thoughts and to then consider if there is something you want to try doing differently.

OPTIONAL PREPARATION:

Print copies of the personal reflection printout.
Complete the reflection process yourself so that you are familiar with it and can share your own example.

FACILITATION SUGGESTIONS:

Begin by sharing an example. This is a way to introduce the framework and model how to use it. There is also a slide deck with examples you could share.
Support student reflection by providing questions or by using the personal reflection printout. Note: The printout prompts reflecting on the impact of a thought and considering alternatives.
Invite students to share but don't require it.