Background Nonverbal Communication Say Whaaat? Creative Writing Trends and Patterns Problem Solving Creative Thinking Say It – Do It (Scientific Writing) Three Dimensional TANGOES * Negotiation (Basic) Supply and Demand Monopoly Teamwork PDCA Cycle Beyond Disabilities Group Decision Making Dynamics	PDCA Cycles/ Continuous Improvement Concepts Summary/Suggested Uses Use this exercise to introduce the concepts of continuous improvement or Kaizen via the PDCA cycle (Plan, Do Check, Adjust) to business classes, work program participants, or student government members. It also serves as a good warm up for units on decision making or management style in AP government, economics, or history classes. You will need 30-35 minutes to complete and process this exercise, less if your students are very familiar with TANGOES *. Objectives Participation in this exercise will enable the student to Identify elements of the PDCA cycle Explore his/her personal approach to problem-solving Materials Set of TANGOES * pieces for each class member Overhead transparency containing copy of one TANGOES * image card Overhead transparency containing three other TANGOES * images Paper and pencil for each student Directions Open by asking students to name an ongoing problem or task in their life. Take examples (getting to school on time, passing a difficult course, etc) and clarify that all of us have such problems. The solutions we choose may or may not effectively solve the problem. Explain that today’s challenge is to think about the process we use to solve problems and what makes our solutions effective in the long run. Distribute a set of TANGOES * pieces to each class member. Announce that they will start by looking at the process they use to solve a short-term problem. Show the first TANGOES * image on overhead and allow time (usually 5-8 minutes) for students to complete the image on their own. Remind students that it is not whether they solve the problem that is important, but how they go about finding the solution. Observe students as they find the solution. Notice the various approaches used but do not offer assistance as to the answer. When most students appear to have the solution, turn off the overhead and debrief this part of the exercise. ASK: What specific mental or physical steps did you go through to solve this problem? (Accept and list any reasonable input. Note that some students worked quietly on their own while others sought outside input, that some physically tried many options while others concentrated on studying the overhead then tried only several options, whether some students were prone to give up quickly or were more tenacious, and other strategies based on your observations.) What feelings did you have as you worked on this? (Probe for stress or competitive reactions...did they mentally read more into your instructions or not care at all?) Where might those feelings have come from? If you didn’t complete the figure, how did you feel? Why might you have felt that way? Explain that there is no "right" or "wrong" way to solve a TANGOES * puzzle. The important factor is understanding your personal response to challenge and how our responses may affect results over time. Show the overhead with three TANGOES * images. Tell students that they are to solve each puzzle and draw the solution on their own paper within the next 10 minutes. Observe reactions as before in preparation for discussion. Call time and turn off the overhead. ASK Did any of you respond differently to the task this time? How? In what ways did your response affect whether or not you completed the three images? (Ask which behaviors enhanced or hindered their ability to complete the task.) What (besides having the answer) could have made this last task easier? Debrief and Transition Many times, our personal reaction to challenge determines our effectiveness in solving the problem. We may embrace the challenge and rush in to what we think is a solution but that turns out to be wrong and causes us to have to rework the problem. At the other extreme, we may hesitate to make decisions or give up too early, preventing a workable solution from being reached. We may get stuck in a pattern that seems like it should solve the problem, but doesn’t really solve it. Solutions exist -- Which ones we find really depends upon how we go about searching. The PDCA cycle is commonly used to diagram effective project handling or problem-solving in business. (Draw diagram on board as you discuss it). At the beginning, we must identify the desired outcome - in this case it was solving all three TANGOES * puzzles within 15 minutes. The first step in getting to a solution is to PLAN. Most of you did this mentally when you looked at the image and pictured how the shapes might fit together. The next step is to DO. You took the shapes and put them in place according to the mental plan that you had made. The third step is to CHECK. You did this when you compared your image to the one on the overhead. Finally, our original plan must usually be ADJUSTED. You did this when you realized that your image was not quite the same as mine and you moved your pieces again. Doing this with TANGOES * puzzles is almost automatic because it is a short problem. What would these steps look like with our problem of getting to school on time? (Take reasonable input, diagram on board in PDCA cycle, note how failure to complete any one of the steps hinders long-term effectiveness.) This continuous checking and adjusting of our plans and actions is one of the cornerstones of the management philosophy known as continuous quality improvement (CQI) or total quality management (TQM). Transition to how PDCA is used in business, other principals of quality management, or related lesson plan.