Simple frameworks for helping students explore a business problem, compare options and explain their reasoning.
Three tools to start with.
01 / TEST AN IDEA
Assumption check
Ask students to divide a page into three columns:
What are we assuming?
What evidence do we have?
What could we test next?
Use it to move an idea from confident assertion to a question worth investigating.
02 / WIDEN THE VIEW
Stakeholder perspectives
Choose a business decision and identify who it affects.
List the different stakeholders.
Describe what each group needs.
Explain the trade-offs in a proposed decision.
03 / MAKE A DECISION
Idea comparison
Help students make a choice they can justify.
Agree a small set of criteria.
Compare two or three options.
Explain the choice and its limitations.
Keep the reasoning visible, rather than relying on a score alone.
Choose the thinking before the tool.
Start with what you want students to do: generate possibilities, examine evidence, consider another perspective or make a decision. Then choose a structure that makes that thinking easier to see.
A short debrief can connect the activity back to the concept: What changed in your thinking? What evidence mattered? What would you do differently?
