This is the sixteenth in the ETC system series which describes the concept of synthesis as a stage in anasynthesis: analysis, synthesis, modeling and simulation.
This set consists of 40 color 35mm slides and a 25-minute magnetic cassette narrated by Dr. Silvern who has been identified as the "father of systems thinking in education".
First, he reviews analysis using a flowchart model of the process: identify, relate, separate, and limit. Next, a problem is introduced and unrelated physical objects are gradually combined until a whole has been created --- the process of synthesis. Dr. Silvern explains a flowchart model of synthesis and continues with a new problem. Synthesis is compared with assembly and a clear distinction made. Synthesis is the process of combining unrelated elements and establishing new relationships thereby forming a new whole.
Like many of the multi-media presentations and texts in the series, SEE XVI is non-mathematical and communicates a difficult concept in understandable terms. It was tried out on several hundred learners as a conversational, interactive, computer-assisted instruction lesson and then redeveloped into a slide-cassette lesson.
