Synectics
is a process in which metaphors are used to make the strange familiar
and the familiar strange. Synectics can be used to help students
understand concepts and solve problems. Synectics was developed by
William J.J. Gordon for use in business and industry, but it has also
been used an innovative model in education.
According to Gordon, "the basic tools of learning are analogies that serve as connectors between the new and the familiar. They enable students to connect facts and feelings of their experience with the facts that they are just learning." Gordon goes on to say that "good teaching traditionally makes ingenious use of analogies and metaphors to help students visualize content. For example, the subject of electricity typically is introduced through the analogue of the flow of water in pipes." Synectics can be used in the concept introduction phase of the conceptual change teaching model.
The synectics procedure for developing students' connection-making skills goes beyond merely presenting helpful comparisons and actually evokes metaphors and analogies from the students themselves. Students learn how to learn by developing the skills to produce their own connective metaphors.
Gordon and his colleagues, know as SES Associates, have developed texts and reference materials, and provide training to help teachers implement synectics into the classroom. Here is an example of a synectics activity that you could do with students. In this example students learn to examine simple analogies and discuss how they relate to teach other.
Give students analogies and then ask them to explain how the content (the heart) and the analogue (water pump) are alike. Here are some examples:
• The heart and water pump• Orbits of electrons and orbits of planets
• The nucleus of an atom and a billiard ball
• Location of electrons in an atom and droplets of water in a cloud
• Small blood vessels and river tributaries
• The human brain and a computer
• The human eye and a camera
After students feel skillful linking the strange with the familiar, challenge them to create analogies for concepts they are studying.