Saturday 1 June 2013

socratic method pt 2

The Socratic Method:
Teaching by Asking Instead of by Telling
by Rick Garlikov
This was to be the Socratic method in what I consider its purest form, where questions (and only questions) are used to arouse curiosity and at the same time serve as a logical, incremental, step-wise guide that enables students to figure out about a complex topic or issue with their own thinking and insights.  www.garlikov.com/Soc_Meth.html

The Socratic Method Research Portal Mission Statement and Free Education Resources
Introduction to the Socratic Method and its Effect on Critical Thinking
by Max Maxwell
A Definition of the Classic Socratic Method:
The Classic Socratic Method uses creative questioning to dismantle and discard preexisting ideas and thereby allows the respondent to rethink the primary question under discussion. This deconstructive style of the Socratic Method is ‘Socratic’ precisely to the extent that the weight of the actual deconstruction of a definition rests in the respondent’s own answers to more questions, which refute the respondent's previously stated answer to the primary question. The result of the Classic Socratic Method is, by definition, a failure to find a satisfactory answer to the primary question in a conversation. This failure produces a realization of ignorance in the respondent (Socratic Effect) which can, it is hoped, inspire the respondent to dig deep and think about the question with a new freedom that is obtained from discarding a previously held belief.
The ultimate goal of the Socratic Method is to increase understanding through inquiry.
www.socraticmethod.net

Planning a Socratic Lesson

This plan is designed specifically for discussions regarding ethical choices and moral values. It is a way of using Socratic Method as a tool for helping young people know and do what's right.
1.  Define the lesson that you want the students to learn. Decide beforehand what idea you want them to come away with.
2.  Think up a hypothetical situation to use as a point of departure.
3.  Devise a line of questions designed to pull the students in the desired direction.
4.  Make the students take a position by asking, "What would you do if...?"
5.  Plan for a dialogue to move in several different directions.
6.  Complicate the situation by throwing in a monkey wrench: "What if this happened, what would you do then?"
7.  At each step, raise the ante: "Now what would you do?"
8.  Expect to be surprised. Be prepared to think on your feet.
9.  If all attempts to achieve a satisfactory conclusion fail, play your trump cards:
"What if the hero of a movie did that? How would you feel about the character?" (Pose an objective, hypothetical situation.)
"Remember, you’re the hero of your own movie." (Compare the position with the students self-image.)
"Would that be the right thing to do?" (A consensus will probably develop. The kids will usually know what’s right when pressed.)

 www.goodcharacter.com/Socratic_method.html
  
Pedagogy
In teaching, teachers can use Socratic questioning for at least two purposes:
  • To deeply probe student thinking, to help students begin to distinguish what they know or understand from what they do not know or understand (and to help them develop intellectual humility in the process).
  • To foster students' abilities to ask Socratic questions, to help students acquire the powerful tools of Socratic dialogue, so that they can use these tools in everyday life (in questioning themselves and others). To this end, teachers can model the questioning strategies they want students to emulate and employ. Moreover, teachers need to directly teach students how to construct and ask deep questions. Beyond that, students need practice to improve their questioning abilities.
Socratic questioning illuminates the importance of questioning in learning (indeed Socrates himself thought that questioning was the only defensible form of teaching). It illuminates the difference between systematic and fragmented thinking. It teaches us to dig beneath the surface of our ideas. It teaches us the value of developing questioning minds in cultivating deep learning. Integrating Socratic questions in the following manner in the classroom helps develop active, independent learners:[2]
  1. Getting students to clarify their thinking
    e.g., ‘Why do you say that?’, ‘Could you explain further?’
  2. Challenging students about assumptions
    e.g., ‘Is this always the case?’, ‘Why do you think that this assumption holds here?’
  3. Evidence as a basis for argument
    e.g., ‘Why do you say that?’, ‘Is there reason to doubt this evidence?’
  4. Alternative viewpoints and perspectives
    e.g., ‘What is the counter argument for?’, ‘Can/did anyone see this another way?’
  5. Implications and consequences
    e.g., ‘But if...happened, what else would result?’, ‘How does...affect...?’
  6. Question the question
    e.g., ‘Why do you think that I asked that question?’, ‘Why was that question important?’, ‘Which of your questions turned out to be the most useful?’
The art of Socratic questioning is intimately connected with critical thinking because the art of questioning is important to excellence of thought. What the word "Socratic" adds to the art of questioning is systematicity, depth, and an abiding interest in assessing the truth or plausibility of things.
Both critical thinking and Socratic questioning share a common end. Critical thinking provides the conceptual tools for understanding how the mind functions in its pursuit of meaning and truth; Socratic questioning employs those tools in framing questions essential to the pursuit of meaning and truth.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_questioning

See also

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