Five Starter Kata Routines, Ready to Plug Into Your Lesson
Below are five free compact practice routines you can use to help students develop their scientific-thinking skills. Each one comes with instructions. There are PPTX files too, in case you would like to adjust the routines to suit your classroom and terminology.
How to proceed: You can download any one of the practice routines and add it to an existing lesson. Figure out how it works along with your students just by using it, and build from there as appropriate for what you want to achieve. We recommend starting with the Experimenting Record, and then layering in additional practice routines when useful.
Pro Tip: Use these Kata for Cross-Context Interleaving!
Practicing the same Starter Kata across different activities helps build transferable skill, not
just task-specific performance. It helps students go from knowing how to understanding why.
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Using the same pattern in different activities helps students grasp the principle behind the pattern, not just the steps, making it easier to apply when conditions change.
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Applying a Kata in multiple settings reveals nuances that deepen understanding, and supports a growing sense of mastery.
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Repetition across contexts avoids mindless drilling; each activity challenges the Kata in a new way.
Illustration by James Yang
NOTES:
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The "Starter Kata" practice routines are not goals in themselves. Their purpose is to help develop a way of thinking and responding that recognize our first understanding is often incomplete. Practice them to cultivate curiosity and exploratory skill, which help us navigate uncertainty and achieve challenging objectives.
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When someone begins practicing a new pattern or routine, it can feel awkward at first, which may make them want to quit. But that discomfort is actually a positive sign, meaning you're weaving new neural pathways.
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Share how you are using the routines in your classroom!
The Experimenting Record
The Experimenting Record is a pencil & paper form that incorporates a scientific pattern for planning and reflecting on experiments. Students strengthen their problem-solving mindset by focusing on the next step, not the final answer, developing a sense for the iterative nature of learning and letting their thinking evolve through experimentation. This practice routine helps students learn how to deal with uncertainty by running experiments, and can easily be added to many activities and projects.
The Experimenting Record is a great place to start with KiC.
Editable PPTX
The Rocket Experimenting Record is a simpler format. The instructions are essentially the same as for the version above, but the form has been pared down, which may make it useful for younger grade levels. Also included is a simplified Coaching/Reflection Questions card to match. You might opt to start with this format, and then migrate to the more detailed one above.
Editable PPTX
Click to read a short article about adding the Experimenting Record to classroom activities.
The Coaching/Reflection Questions
These questions often accompany the Experimenting Record, but they also work on their own. They provide a short, structured set of prompts that guide students through a scientific approach to working toward goals. Educators use the questions during check-ins or regular reflections, and over time students can begin asking them to themselves. Used regularly, they encourage iterative thinking, support a growth mindset, and help create a collaborative learning environment where experimentation is normal.
Editable PPTX
The Process Poster
Experimenting is just a part of the larger scientific process. This poster (also called The Improvement Kata Poster) shows that larger context via a four-step diagram, and also shows the Threshold of Knowledge concept. Hang it in the classroom and refer to it often, like a 'you are here' map. As students work on activities, the poster helps them see where they are in the process, reinforcing the pattern of scientific thinking behind the work they are doing.
Editable PPTX
Run Charts
If an activity involves collecting data, consider showing the students how to make run charts. Plotting data over time often leads to surprising insights about what is actually happening versus what we assume is happening. With a little practice, students can begin using run charts to better understand the current situation, help them set their next Target Condition, and gage effects of their experiments.
The Threshold of Knowledge Concept
Make "Threshold of Knowledge" or "Knowledge Threshold" part of your classroom language. Like, "Ah, we've found a threshold of knowledge!" The Threshold of Knowledge is the line between what we currently understand and what we don't yet know. It's where experimenting and learning take place.
There is always a TOK. By referring to this idea often, you can help students see that not knowing isn't a failure, but something normal and the beginning of discovery. ("The questions you got wrong on the quiz are not a failure. They simply represent your learning zone.") Being able to recognize one's Threshold of Knowledge helps foster curiosity, experimentation, and persistence when facing challenging goals.
