8 • MODULE FIVE: DECISION-MAKING
ACTIVITY THREE
Choosing Behavior
Group Check in- Discuss with the children what robots are and how they behave. Robots only follow orders and
cannot think for themselves. If children are not familiar with robots, remind them of the many
wind-up or battery operated toys available for children that repeat an action over and over
again in exactly the same way. Tell the children that robots are just like those toys-mechanical
adult-like figures. Do a practice activity or demonstrate to make sure the children understand.
Ask for five volunteers to pretend to be robots. - This activity is fun for the children. The facilitator will give commands and the robots have to
do as they are told. The other persons will observe if the robots are behaving as they have
been told to. Some suggestions are:
Stand up;
Walk slowly;
Clap hands; and
Smile. - Discuss what the observers noted, and ask for five more volunteers to do the following. Give
instruction that they should not copy anyone.
Act like a well-behaved child at home
Act friendly and polite to a guest
Lose your temper
Your teacher/mother scolds you and you are upset
Review- Could the robots have chosen their behavior? Why?
- Do people have a choice about their behavior, or do they have to act as someone
tells them? - Did all the robots act in exactly the same way? Discuss with the children that in every
activity they do, even the most routine ones, there is room to choose how to behave, even
when adults or older children direct them to behave in certain ways. Children, in reality,
have more choices than they think.