Making decisions is an important
part of life for Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.
Their unconscious process of solving a problem requires comparing
alternatives and thinking about the results of choice. Every choice or decision
that Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum make leads to certain direct results and even
more indirect results. The choices the Tweedles make will also end up
influencing or limiting future decisions.

I’d like to begin our adventure with a short
story that illustrates the choices made by a group of 6-to-9-year-old Tweedles
enrolled in a Montessori class. These Montessori
Tweedles had been spending a good portion of class trying to come up with uses
for different materials, one of which was a particular golden bead material. A
group of five Tweedles began discussing among themselves how long a chain of 1
million gold beads might be. The discussion continued for some time with many
reasonable and some outlandish guesses. When the teacher became aware of the
discussion the teacher directed the Tweedles to focus on how they might find an
answer to the question. Together the group came up with several possible
solutions, including buying a million beads and stringing them together or
borrowing all the golden bead chains from other schools in the city. The
teacher then raised the question of whether something other than beads could be
used to make the chain: something they might already have. This suggestion
generated yet more discussion, and finally a decision was made to use graph
paper, as each small square was about the size of a golden bead, and it was also
something that they had in abundance. The Tweedles decided to cut the graph
paper in tens, tape them together, and construct a chain of 1 million. They assigned
jobs for each other and began to make the chain. Soon after starting, they ran
out of space in the classroom; so, with helpful suggestions from the teacher,
they moved their supplies outdoors, where they continued assembling the
“chain.” After working several days on the project they succeeded in getting
only partway to 1 million. The process itself, however, was an amazing success,
because it was clear they had developed real knowledge and understanding of the
immensity of 1 million.  They made “decisions” about which of the many “choices” were available to them and on how they were to accomplish the assigned task.