TACTics Journal

A Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners

September 29, 2000

 

CONTENTS

CONNECTIONS

   (1)     APICS International Conference, Cheryl A. Edwards, USA

NETWORKING

   (2)     The Malaysian Experience: No. 1, C. Ean Khaw, Malaysia

    (3)    Scientific Thinking Study Using TOC Tools, Part 1, Dr. Rami Kallir / Maya Kallir, Israel

EDITORS’ NOTES

   (4)     Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards

 

CONNECTIONS

(1)        APICS International Conference

From Cheryl A. Edwards, USA

 

Kathy will be presenting a paper at the APICS International Conference on October 24 in Orlando, Florida.  APICS is an international, not-for-profit, educational society globally recognized for serving manufacturing and service industries.  In addition to her formal presentation, Kathy will have the unique opportunity to work with a group of children being sponsored by local APICS Chapters.  Which tool do you think Kathy plans to share in the 2ND hour session?

 

NETWORKING

(2)     The Malaysian Experience:  No. 1

By C. Ean Khaw, Malaysia

 

Using Ambitious Targets Tool in Resistance to Change

What I shall be sharing is not a sleek sophisticated session as it sounds in the title.  It actually started as an intuitive use of the tool.  But first of all, let me tell you a little about the background to this.  I was personally involved in the whole story, so I can tell you first-hand that I found it most motivating and this story is simple enough to be anyone’s experience.  But then, the great impact of this experience is unbelievable but yet immensely achievable by anyone, not just on this one occasion.

 

Malaysia had not been introduced to TOC till February 2000.  And then, it was a one-day demonstration talk by Kathy Suerken, CEO of TOCFE, Inc.  It was not even a planned happening but a lucky (!) mix of events.  So we got to hear about TOCFE and 2 specific tools at the Curriculum Development Centre (CDC), i.e. The Cloud and The Ambitious Targets tool.  In the afternoon of that day, Kathy used the Ambitious Targets tool hands-on with the group that attended her briefing.

 

The Special Projects Unit in the CDC is involved in numerous projects.  It was for one of these that we had the opportunity to try to use the Ambitious Targets tool even though we were just fledgling learners at that time.  This is the scenario in which it happened.

 

Story Line 1:  The Hand-Over

The Futures Studies Pilot Project had been completed in 5 states.  The results of the Pilot Project were good.  It was decided that the Project will be handed over to all 14 states in Malaysia.  It was going to be a teaching and learning strategy for teachers to use in all subjects from preschool to upper secondary school.

 

A series of hand-over courses were carried out in which the representatives from various divisions in the Ministry, state education departments and Resource Teachers were given the program.  Their jobs were to introduce Futures Studies as a new teaching and learning strategy in their own divisions or states.

 

When we planned the hand-over courses, the Ambitious Targets tool was applied to look at what were the obstacles that we would face in the hand-over.  Naturally, it was expected that the course participants would be resistant to the idea of having to carry out something new.  By looking into the obstacles that were raised in trying to achieve a successful hand-over of the project, we were able to anticipate and address many of them before we even met the participants of the courses.  In doing so, we found ourselves providing our course participants with a less stressful and more meaningful course.

 

For example, one of the obstacles we foresaw was that the participants would have to be fed a lot of new information, concepts and theories.  This bulk of knowledge would be burdensome and we did not want them bored or falling asleep during the lectures. 

 

The intermediate objective was to see that the new information for participants  would be learned in an interesting manner.  From these we were able to structure the course components into interactive shorter chunks of learning experiences. 

 

Our facilitators came up with the idea of having 5 booths manned by each of them and different factual information was fed to participants by dividing the big group of 40 into 5 smaller groups of 8 and letting them circulate in a systematic simultaneous rotation around the booths where information was given in an interactive manner.  It was such a difference from the usual lecture method of providing information that it went down so well that when I was assigned the job of “bell-ringer” in between each 20-minute rotation, I was glowered at for being a “spoilsport” of their fun. They all actually wanted to learn more!

 

By dealing with the obstacles we came up with in applying the Ambitious Targets tools ourselves, we had been able to address the needs of our course participants.  There was one though, that led me to do a Cloud on an internal dilemma as the course coordinator:

 

My Cloud :  My Internal Dilemma In The Hand-over of the Project

In order to have a successful implementation of the project, I had to ensure effective hand-over of the project, so I had to address the issue of resistance in the hand-over (B-D)

 

The assumption at B-D was that resistance is one of the critical areas for effective and successful handover.

 

In order to have a successful implementation of the project, I had to avoid any negative situations, so I had to ignore the issue of resistance to the hand-over (C-D’)

 

The assumption at C-D’) was that ignoring the issue of resistance will avoid a negative situation and avoiding a negative situation will ensure a successful implementation.

 

My win-win solution was to use the Ambitious Target tool collaboratively and so address the resistance issue but directing the negative situation (obstacles) into a positive outcome.

 

So the Ambitious Targets tool was introduced and used collaboratively with the course participants in a session we called Strategic Planning.  The idea was to let all the participants involved in the hand-over to come up with the challenges they would face in trying to achieve the goal of getting a successful implementation of the project.  Without telling them anything about the tool at first, we took them through the process and very soon all the possible obstacles to achieving the goal were surfaced.  We had a gala time getting the participants to come up with the intermediate objectives and some form of action plan.

 

In the end, we could tell them that, having looked into all the possible obstacles to a successful implementation AND having changed all that to milestones, they had no reason now NOT to achieve the goal.  It was a great moment in that we could see that we left them with no cause for complaints or resistance and the best part was that they themselves had come up with the solutions that they agreed collectively could be carried out. They actually wagged fingers at us and told us we had been “sneaky” in getting them but that they liked our approach.  Then we proceeded to explain to them what the Ambitious Target tool was about and left them with plenty to ponder on.

 

Epilogue:

The pleasant surprise we learnt was that our course participants used the Ambitious Targets tool at their own state-level courses to garner the cooperation of their teachers.

 

(3)        Scientific Thinking Study Using the Theory of Contstraints (TOC) Tools, By Dr. Rami Kallir and Maya Kallir

 

Part 1

 

Development of an Understandable Logic Language

Natural Science personnel, like other professionals, developed the language of symbols and formulas. The languages were formed from the need to use a shortened language, one that crosses boarders and languages as well as from the wish to safeguard the trade secrets from laymen.

 

Describing an experience, observation or a natural phenomenon requires sometimes a lot of verbiage.  It was crucial to mathematicians, chemists, physicists and scientists in many other areas to find a uniform language that would enable understanding without using so many words.  Today when the know how and the methods of using it are well known by many, a situation has been created where the professional languages, rich in symbols and formulas, constitute a deterrent factor to science students.  Who is going to learn a profession, as interesting as it may be, where the main obstacle facing him is the language?

 

Another thing creating antagonism towards certain professions are the control processes—the many examinations.  Studying became virtual—the student is not experiencing personally!  The examinations become more and more virtual and do not necessarily prove knowledge and qualifications other than the ability of memorizing and learning by heart.

 

As initiators in the field of scientific studies, who emphasize the direct personal experiences of the students, we face a number of problems.  The main one of them being the need to find an effective way to explain to children in a simple language understood by anyone the complex phenomena, which happen right in front of their eyes.  We are used to saying, “A picture worth a thousand words, an experience worth a thousand pictures.”  Simple multiplication will show us that in order to transcript an experience we need millions of words.

 

The various TOC tools enable us to word a lot of knowledge in a condensed form and simultaneously make it possible for the children to describe in a very clear way the experience they have just conducted.  The conflict cloud presents and focuses the need for the scientific phenomenon we are describing.  The logic contexts used in building branches enable to describe activities and complex experiences.

 

During the last two years we have developed a program integrating practical scientific activity and scientific thinking with the TOC thinking tools.

 

The Structure of the Lesson

     A certain dilemma is presented through a story.  The dilemma is not necessarily a scientific one; it can be moral, logic, social etc. 

     We word together the cloud.

     The children raise suggestions for solutions (injections).

     We examine the existence of positive and negative implications in every suggestion.

     The tutor presents the subject of the lesson as one of the possible solutions.

     We check the solution by experience.

     The tutor presents the scientific explanation with the aid of logic branch.

 

The use of those tools has two advantages:

1.    The connection between the problem and its scientific solution is clear and assists in understanding the studied process.

2.   The scientific phenomenon presented before them is worded in if-then contexts. The wording is clear and summarized.

 

In each and every lesson emphasis is put on practical experiencing of each one of the children. The product received is a possible solution to the problem presented in the cloud or a product of the process presented in the logic branch.

 

EDITORS’ NOTES

(4)     Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards

Next week we will publish Part 2 of this article entitled: Samples of Contents Studied with the TOC Tools.  This article will include two science lessons, one on the study of centripetal force and another on the study of hard and soft water.

 

Great things happen when we collaborate, as C. Ean Khaw expressed with the use of the Ambitious Target tool in this week’s TACTics.  Each week in collaboration with Bernie, we work diligently to deliver a newsletter that is “reader friendly” in format.  Due to the variables involved in using electronic mail, the TACTics you receive does not always look the way we intend.  Therefore, we would like to remind you that TACTics can be viewed and downloaded each week in our “intentional” format.  All you have to do is visit our TOCFE website at <http://www.tocforeducation.com/> and click on What’s New!

 

And, speaking about “what’s new” the TOC for Education family extends their sincere congratulations to Rami Goldratt on his upcoming marriage to Miri Tzadok.  We wish you the gifts of love and hope as you follow your dreams and make a new life together!

 

Thanks to all for sharing!  If you would like to share, send by mail to:

Cheryl A. Edwards

2253 S. Hill Island Rd.

Cedarville, MI 49719  USA

 

Or hyperlink to <redwards@sault.com> or <bucknek@resa.net.