At Synthesis, we don’t design for content.

We design for experience.

What goes into the design of a Synthesis Experience? What are kids learning?

We break out the Synthesis Experience into 6 components:

• Simulation Mechanics
• Simulation Concepts
• Mental Models
• Team Reflection
• Simulation Analysis
• Personal Reflection

Think of these as the ingredients of the Synthesis recipe for learning.

1/ Simulation Mechanics

When designing a simulation, we put ourselves in students’ shoes to visualize how they will interact with it. This involves picturing how kids will act with incomplete information.

Kids work with teammates to bring a sense of order to the game.

Simulation Mechanics includes:

• Figuring out the basic rules
• Identifying specific scoring variables
• Determining how to best adjust your team’s strategy
• Managing the inherent disorder that occurs when working with a team

Sounds chaotic, and it is, just like real life.

2/ Simulation Concepts

We want Synthesis to equip kids to solve hard problems. To do this, we elevate the standards for the concepts we teach.

At first glance, some of these seem hard for kids to digest, but again, they're capable of understanding much more than we think.

Our first simulations expose kids to “adult” concepts like revenue, profit, Dutch Auctions, wormholes, and headquarters, to name a few.

We ask parents to keep an eye out for their kid’s improved vocabulary as they move through

3/ Mental Models

Kids develop a toolkit of mental models by synthesizing concepts + learnings from our simulations.

We don’t always teach these explicitly (kids are good at recognizing patterns), but for every Synthesis simulation, we know the mental models that are at work.

Now on to the sensemaking.

All sessions include time where we guide kids to *make sense* of their interactions with the competitive simulations.

The deep conversations and reflections that we lead drive the learning and the connections from the simulations to the real world.

4/ Team Reflection

After each game, teams get together to talk about how they operated, the personality of their team (e.g. aggressive or defensive), how the team made decisions, and the roles played by team members.

5/ Simulation Analysis

Here the whole cohort gets together to discuss team decisions and weigh their effectiveness.

“Why did the red team’s decision pay off?”

“Can someone offer an example of a risk taken by their team that did not prove beneficial?”

We love to see our students communicating in front of the whole group and practicing social accountability.

Our facilitators are always looking for interesting scenarios to highlight in the group discussions.

Here's an example https://twitter.com/chrismanfrank/status/1374142711880511489

6/ Personal Reflection

The Synthesis Experience is not complete if our students don’t grow to become more self-aware individuals.

How did I contribute to the team dynamic?
What role should I play next time?
How can I improve?

So, there they are—all six ingredients of the recipe for learning at Synthesis.

Not all of the magic happens when kids are competing in simulations or during cohort discussions. We trust that the seeds we plant remain and grow with them after they leave each weekly session.

The real learning occurs over time, as kids synthesize concepts and mental models from all the simulations they will have access to at Synthesis.

We will only declare success if kids go on to apply this toolkit to solve hard problems and innovate in the real world.