What Makes Synthesis Unique
Now that you are familiar with our promise and the Synthesis community, I want to share with you how we are unique.
A few years ago l left teaching in search of new approaches to learning. I wanted to find a learning experience that would teach kids the things that really matter.
Synthesis is everything I envisioned for the future of childhood education. Here is how our students describe it.
Where else do you hear kids raving about a learning program? I went to ten different schools growing up and taught hundreds of kids in various countries. This is the first time I have seen kids that excited.
That’s why I joined Synthesis.
So, what is our special sauce? What makes Synthesis so unique?
Here are 5 ways in which Synthesis is different from other learning experiences.
1. We teach kids HOW to think, not WHAT to think. Traditional schooling is all about the WHAT. At Synthesis, we are all about the HOW. And our HOW is to think from first principles—that is, to deconstruct, then reconstruct. We don’t follow a scripted curriculum, nor do we feed kids information to memorize. We encourage them to question assumptions and break things apart. Reasoning by analogy or because teachers “told you so” leads to imitation. Thinking from first principles leads to innovation.
2. We empower kids. At Synthesis, students make decisions that have consequences and meaning. For example, a bad strategic decision can let your teammates down. Our simulations push students to take a stance and understand tradeoffs. Kids analyze choices in a world of no right answers, just like in real life! We know kids are capable of much more than we think, so we put them in the driver’s seat—and later on, we even bring them in to design their own simulations. At Synthesis, the kids are in charge.
3. We embrace complexity and chaos. Our world is complex, chaotic, and unpredictable, so we believe kids prepare best for real life under similar circumstances. We don’t water things down for our students, nor we tell them all the “rules.” Plus our simulations get more and more complex over time, because we know that kids not only can handle complexity... they crave it.
4. We design learning experiences that are actually engaging. Students at Synthesis are highly engaged through our sessions and beyond. And believe it or not, it’s not because they love “playing games.” First, it’s because they understand the purpose behind their learning and its relevance to the real world. And second, it’s because they get to collaborate with new friends from all over the globe. Our sessions are designed to put students on the spot and push them to be vulnerable. When this happens, kids leave their comfort zones, enabling them to make stronger connections with their new friends. Synthesis taps into the emotional rewards that kids crave the most.
5. We help kids find their unique voices. Our simulations set up the right experiences for students to find their unique voices. Not everyone has to be a leader at Synthesis, but everyone needs to understand how top-level decisions are made. Kids contribute to team discussions in ways that feel authentic to them—be it leading, following, or disagreeing. They try and they fail, and their decisions are never perfect. But they surely get the chance to contribute to consequential decisions in their own way.
We are proud of what makes us different. In my next blog post, I will walk you through the recipe components behind the Synthesis Experience, or how we “teach.”
Ms. Fab
Join the Synthesis Community.
Apply for a cohort here!