Teaching is a bit like giving learners a toolkit of skills. Application tasks teach your students how to use each tool ( +, –, ×, ÷, usually one at a time). But synthesis tasks require your students to choose the appropriate tool for the job. This is not easy, and requires careful teaching. Page 259 shows an activity to teach this synthesis skill. It is one thing to teach a carpentry student to chisel, to saw, to use screwdrivers and so on. It is quite another to point at a door that does not close, and ask the learner to fi x it; that requires the synthesis skill of deciding which tools and skills can be used to complete the jo

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