You may have thought your coin spinning days ended in grade school, but it turns out the childhood pastime can help you learn about theories, predictions, and PDSA cycles. In a new video series and activity, IHI Executive Director Niñon Lewis explains how to play the coin spinning game — and what it will teach you about improvement science. Show these videos and use the discussion questions to help facilitate this group activity. Try it in your Chapter or classroom!

How do you feel when you get an email with no greeting and no signoff? If you think it’s rude, think again. An Atlantic article says many of our norms around email are outdated and inefficient in today’s world. “An email is an imposition on a person’s time,” James Hamblin says. “Writing to someone is saying ‘I know you have a finite amount of time and attention today, and in life, and I’m going to take some of it.’” Use Hamblin’s guidelines to cut the time you spend reading and writing emails in half, and learn more about email management on the IHI Open School blog.