With four decades of experience in educational leadership, Kathy Minardi will pursue a new venture in July of 2016, following her tenure at Aidan Montessori School. With the launch of Whole School Leadership, Kathy Minardi will consult on systems thinking, community building and peacemaking, and implementing the tools of emotional intelligence in school settings.

1. Systems Thinking and How to
Challenge Mental Models
By Kathy Minardi

2. Introduction
• With four decades of experience in educational leadership,
Kathy Minardi will pursue a new venture in July of 2016,
following her tenure at Aidan Montessori School. With the
launch of Whole School Leadership, Kathy Minardi will
consult on systems thinking, community building and
peacemaking, and implementing the tools of emotional
intelligence in school settings.
People who use systems thinking focus on understanding
underlying structures in order to interpret data and act with
meaningful and positive impact. In school settings, they look
at the organic ways that people in the institution interact with
each other in order to create effective results and to solve
challenges.

3. Systems Thinking
• A good place to begin when introducing systems
thinking to students is to challenge their mental
models, which are the preconceived assumptions
that influence their perception. Simple requests,
such as having students cross their arms in the
opposite direction or walk upstairs beginning
with the opposite leg, take them out of their
comfort zones to analyze change from a new
perspective. Physical activities work best for
mental-model stimulation, because they engage
multiple senses and encourages students to feel.