How do you teach someone synthesis?

Kolko dives into the whys and hows of synthesis. He explains how synthesis supports complex problem solving. Synthesis is the result of actions that the designer takes to prioritize insights in a sea of data and connect existing ideas. He outlines ways to do so: reframe the context and pick a point of view to solve for, map concepts through language and visuals, and lastly, combine insights by looking for patterns or connections.

Clustering is a critical tool in design and there may be new ways to enhance it. Using machine learning, this study tests clustering on over 1000 concepts, and compares it to student teams in a product development class. We might see natural language processing as a way to associate ideas, especially where creating many concepts is very important. The paper suggests that machine concept clustering may help to generate more ideas, thus creating divergence from the outset.

This article overlaps design process with Kolb's Learning Styles & Experiential Learning Model, and suggests that innovation can be seen as a process of learning. This point of view hints that innovation helps build teams of individuals who have disparate learning styles—like assimilators and divergent thinkers. It also shows that shifting modes— moving from concrete observations to high-level abstractions and back, alongside a purposeful shift from analysis to synthesis—helps innovative teams to discover new problem spaces.

This article explores group processes that create exceptional ideas. How members integrate ideas--what the author labels as “creative synthesis”-- may help develop breakthrough concepts. While other studies might focus on content, this article describes how the foundation for extraordinary ideas may be the spaces and opportunities that provide shared understanding between members. How to start? Foster collective attention at the group level, bring ideas to life, and finally, build on similarities between ideas.

Kolb’s model on experiential learning inspired decades of research and teaching. Learners move through four stages of a cycle: feeling (concrete experience), watching (reflective observation), thinking (abstract conceptualization), and finally, doing (experimentation in new situations). He suggests that we learn concepts effectively through this “action-reflection” sequence.