Weigh the Decision
The exam gives you three options and a booklet of sources. Learn the skill of weighing physical and human impacts, using the evidence, and justifying a clear choice.
Use it, the way the marks are given
Free interactive practice at using the material, which is what the marks are for.
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Three options, one choice
In the exam you are given a booklet of sources about a real geographical issue, and THREE possible decisions. Your job is to weigh them up, choose ONE, and justify it in a longer answer. This unit has no facts to learn. The skill of making a good decision is the whole thing.
Decision-making words
Four ideas run through this skill:
A strong answer
What makes a strong decision answer?
- It weighs both physical and human impacts, using the sources
- It picks an option at random
- It ignores the sources and just gives an opinion
- It only ever looks at the cost
Two kinds of impact
Every option has effects. Weigh both kinds before you choose.
Physical or human?
- A new scheme drains a wetland
- A scheme creates local jobs
- A rare bird habitat is lost
- Some families must move home
- A physical impact on the environment
- A human benefit for people
- A physical cost to nature
- A human cost to a community
The golden rule
A top answer does three things: it USES the sources as evidence, it weighs BOTH physical and human impacts, and it makes a clear JUSTIFIED choice. Avoid a vague ending like on balance with no reasons. Back every point with evidence.
What makes it strong?
Which THREE make a decision answer strong?
- It uses evidence from the sources
- It weighs physical and human impacts
- It justifies the final choice
- It chooses an option at random
- It ends with a vague on balance
Which is physical?
Which of these is a physical impact of a scheme?
- A river ecosystem is damaged
- Local people gain new jobs
- The scheme costs a lot of money
- Families have to move home
Make the decision
Put the steps of making a reasoned decision in a sensible order.
- Read the sources in the booklet
- Identify the three possible options
- Weigh the physical and human impacts of each
- Choose the option you think is best
- Justify your choice with evidence
Complete the idea
In a decision-making exam you read a booklet of _____ and choose one option from _____. A good answer weighs the _____ impacts on the environment against the _____ impacts on people. You must back your choice with clear _____, not a vague opinion.
True or not?
Tap the TWO statements that describe a STRONG decision answer.
- It weighs both physical and human impacts.
- It uses evidence from the given sources.
- It picks an option without giving reasons.
- It only ever considers the cost of each option.
- It ignores the sources and guesses.
Weigh the options
- Build a high concrete flood wall
- Restore a natural wetland upstream
- Do nothing and save the money
- Help families move to safer ground
- Strong protection, but costly and ugly
- Cheap and green, but slower to work
- Saves money now, but risks future floods
- Keeps people safe, but breaks up a community
You decide
A town must decide how to handle flooding. Use the decision-making skill for each question.
- Before choosing an option, what should you do first?
- One option protects homes but destroys a wetland. How do you treat this?
- You have chosen an option. How do you finish your answer?
Plan your decision
A city must choose one of three options to reduce traffic: a congestion charge, more buses, or a new ring road. Plan a decision-making answer.
- Identify the three options
- Give one physical impact and one human impact to weigh
- State which option you would choose
- Justify your choice with a reason