Socratic Questioning

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Socratic Questioning

• What questioning techniques have you seen in
  classrooms?
• What has been effective? Not effective?
• What is the purpose of questioning in the
  classroom?

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Socratic Questioning

• Mental Exercise for Teachers and Students

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Puzzling PicturesMultiple Perspectives

• Old or young
• woman?

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Puzzling Pictures, Multiple Perspectives

• Rabbit or duck?

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Learning

• The learning that occurs in the classroom is a
  matter of perspective.
• Whose perspective will it be?

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THE LEARNING PYRAMID
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METHODS OF INSTRUCTION

• Didactic teaching
• Coaching
• Socratic teaching (seminars)
  

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Quick Review of Bloom
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Quick Review of Bloom
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Socratic Method
The question and answer method of philosophizing
(dialectic) used by Socrates in Platos early
dialogues (e.g., Euthyphro), often in
conjunction with pretended ignorance (Socratic
irony), whereby a self-professed experts
over-confident claim to knowledge is subverted.
More generally, Socratic method is any
philosophical or pedagogical method that
disinterestedly pursues truth through analytical
discussion.
The unexamined life is not worth living.
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How Is It Done?
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Elements of Reasoning

• All reasoning has a purpose,
• Is an attempt to figure something out, settle
  some question, solve some problem.

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Elements of Reasoning

• All reasoning is based on assumptions, data,
  information, and evidence, and is done from some
  point of view.

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Elements of Reasoning

• All reasoning is expressed through, and shaped
  by, concepts and ideas.

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Elements of Reasoning

• All reasoning contains inferences by which we
  draw conclusions and give meaning to data, leads
  somewhere, has implications and consequences.

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Classic Socratic Methods

• Law school dialectics.
• Calling on students to help present material.
• Demands preparation, forethought, reasoning on
  the spot etc!
• Medical diagnostics.
• Where does it hurt?
• Correct diagnosis demands empathy (point of
  view), precise data, critical assumptions to be
  made and checked etc!
• Criminal investigation.
• Working backward forward along logic chains.
• Finding and integrating evidence, questioning
  each step, interviewing witnesses etc!

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Classic Socratic Methods

• Scientific inquiry.
• Explicitly calls for differentiating and pursuing
  specific elements of reasoning.
• Hypotheses are special (testable) questions, and
  should be encouraged often.
• Dont stop at I dont know ask your students
  how to reach for the knowledge with science!

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Seminar teaching DOES NOT DOES

• teach facts
• track or ability group
• put the teacher in control
• substitute for didactic teaching and coaching
• provide a magic bullet

• teach students how to think, listen, and speak
• require cooperation
• put students in charge of their learning
• is an extension of them
• offer an attainable way to greatly improve
  learning

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The Goal of All Socratic Seminars Is the Same

• To better understand the ideas, issues,
  principles, and values conveyed in the work being
  discussed
• A secondary goal is to learn more about the work
  and its author

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Differences Between Socratic SeminarandClass
Discussion
Source Ball Brewer, 2000, Eye on Education
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• Socratic Seminar
• Students and teacher are in a circle. All have
  eye contact teacher is on the same level.
• 97 student talk students know teacher wont
  comment.

• Class Discussion
• Students are often in rows. Teacher is set apart
  and often higher on a stool or behind a podium
• 97 teacher talk, even if many questions are
  asked. Teacher elaborates and answers.

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• Socratic Seminar
• No verbal or nonverbal approval is present.
  Affirming feedback by the teacher is taboo.

• Class Discussion
• Teacher affirmation of correctness is typical.
  Sustaining feedback for incorrectness is expected.

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• Socratic Seminar
• Thinking, backed up with textual evidence, is
  paramount. Open-ended exploration, not
  rightness, is valued
• Students listen primarily to peers.

• Class Discussion
• Rightness is usually paramount thinking ends as
  soon as someone is right.
• Students listen primarily to the teacher , who
  has the answer.

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Nine Steps for The Socratic Seminar
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• Step One
• Students arrive and form a circle prepared for
  the assignment

• Step Two
• Teacher presents opening question first level
  question from Blooms

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• Step Three
• Students respond to each other usually 15
  Minutes

• Step Four
• Teacher probes or clarifies only

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• Step Five
• Teacher asks core questions second level
  question
• Step Six
• Students respond to each other usually 30
  minutes

• Step Seven
• Teacher presents closing question

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• Step Eight
• Students personalize discussion usually 30
  minutes

• Step Nine
• Seminar evaluation usually 15 minutes

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Socratic Inquiry Across Disciplines

• All reasoning has a purpose All reasoning is an
  attempt to figure something out, to settle some
  question, to solve some problem.
• All reasoning is based on assumptions All
  reasoning is done from some point of view All
  reasoning is based on data, information, and
  evidence.
• All reasoning is expressed through, and shaped
  by, concepts and ideas All reasoning contains
  inferences by which we draw conclusions and give
  meaning to data.
• All reasoning leads somewhere, has implications
  and consequences.

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Socratic Inquiry Across Disciplines

• Coverage, Math Science So what about
  "coverage," and what about math?
• Socratic practice does take leisure. It's about
  exploring, clarifying, but when it comes to
  coverage, it depends on how you conceptualize
  content.
• It's perhaps easier in the humanities to deal
  with these problems. The question is whether you
  are going for depth or breadth. In art history
  for example, will you teach more with 1,000
  slides or with 40?"

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Socratic Inquiry Across Disciplines

• A good argument can be made that introductory
  science courses would teach more if they offered
  students an immersion in scientific method and
  thinking rather than flooding them with a sea of
  information.
• In the same way that Socratic practice should be
  a prerequisite for all math education.
• Why? Socratic practice improves students'
  facility with abstract concepts, and abstract
  concepts are the basis of mathematics, which is
  at root a way of thinking rather than a body of
  knowledge.

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Your Turn

• In small groups come up with a Socratic Seminar
  Topic in your content area.
• What are some of the questions that you would use
  to lead this seminar?