Dear Educator,

 

My name is Mike Rother. I’m a researcher in organizational

behavior who focuses on how groups of people can work

together effectively. Since 2005, I’ve concentrated on studying

Toyota’s management system, to understand factors behind

their sustained success.

 

One key element of Toyota’s approach is the way they teach and practice a practical form of scientific thinking in daily work. This helps teams become stronger problem solvers, capable of pursuing ambitious goals, even though the path forward is uncertain. 

 

Based on our findings, we developed a set of small, structured practice routines—called 'Starter Kata'—to help organizations outside of Toyota cultivate everyday scientific thinking skills in their teams. Today, the Toyota Kata approach is the subject of several books and is used by organizations around the world.

 

At some point, we realized that some of these practice routines could also be valuable in education, where developing scientific thinking has also become an important issue. Toward that end, this website offers you a set of the key scientific thinking 'Starter Kata' routines. They're downloadable at no cost and can easily be added to existing lessons. The beauty is that there's no need to change your lessons, just add a routine to your lesson.

 

Scientific thinking is a valuable life skill, but it’s not our default mode—it takes some practice. The Starter Kata practice routines have been so successful in business teams that we want to share some of them with educators, to use in their classrooms. I respect and applaud every educator who helps students develop scientific thinking through hands-on learning—a skill that can benefit them for life.

 

Please utilize any of the routines and resources on this site as you like. We’d love to see how you’re applying or adapting them in your classroom, so consider sharing your experiences on LinkedIn with the hashtag #KiC.

 

With appreciation,

Mike