Socratic
Teaching: Stimulating Life-long Learning
 A
number of schools that I work with have shown interest in what is known
as the Socratic method of teaching. Often teachers have
heard about or witnessed the excitement that this way of proceeding
can generate in students, and they want to experience that with their
students.
Theory
The Socratic method is not so much a “method” as it is an approach
to lifelong learning. It presupposes that all learning naturally
occurs inside the student’s mind, so a Socratic class revolves around
student speaking more than teacher speaking. It aims to train
the student to turn his mind’s attention away from authority and toward
substance and evidence. Whether the student is reading, hearing
a lecture, or listening to others, he must form his own ideas of what
is proposed and then look at his own experience to see if his understanding
matches up with the reality. So, in a way, an active learner
is engaged in an interior conversation. “Was the teacher saying
this? Does this match with things I know?” Without this
interior dialogue, real learning does not take place. Instead,
the student acts like a tape recorder, taking in words without meaning
so that they can replay it on the test and get a good grade.
Discussion classes stimulate the student’s own thinking. They
make the interior discussion exterior and explicit, so that the teacher
and the student can see it going on.
Socratic discussions—which are much more than question and answer sessions—are
a wonderfully rich “method” for turning the interior discussion to
an exterior discussion, particularly when the matter being discussed
is most difficult or most important, when the questions have depth,
or when you want to arouse wonder and the excitement of learning. Most
students really enjoy getting a taste of thinking; many enjoy explaining
their own ideas to others; some even enjoy the thrill of intense discussions,
trying to prove their point against stiff opposition. Maybe these
are reasons why discussion classes (sometimes referred to as “collaborative
learning environments”) are catching on at places like MIT!
Description
Typically, the teacher will ask a question, which the students will
then discuss. Students offer their opinions about to how to answer
the opening question; other students will agree, disagree, offer alternative
suggestions, or raise their own questions. The teacher will help
students to clarify their own ideas, sometimes by questions, sometimes
by restatement. He will decide which of the ideas need to be
explored further, either because they seem more promising, or perhaps
because they contain common misconceptions that should be revealed
as such. The teacher will ensure that students give reasons for
their ideas. And, most importantly, the teacher will help students
to listen to one another: “Jane, you’re saying that Achilles
is petty because he’s crying over an insult. But John has said
that the goddess, Athena, seems to be taking Achilles’ side. How
do you account for that?”
Socratic discussion is not relativistic. All are encouraged
to voice their opinions, but they also have to listen to and respond
to criticism. Students are encouraged to pay attention to the
reasons for and against the opinions that are offered so that they
can come to a reasonable judgment. Frequently, this means saying,
“Oh, I see that was wrong.”
In my 20 years of experience, I have found success in working with
students from high school freshmen through the collegiate years; I
believe that in a modified form they will work with middle schoolers
as well. Here are a few examples:
1) “In Act III, Scene 4, line 57, Lady Macbeth asks of her husband: ‘Are
you a man?’ How does the play answer that question?”
So I began a seminar discussion of Macbeth one evening some
years ago at Thomas Aquinas College. The students launched into
a fascinating exploration of the different views of what a male should
be held by Macbeth and his Lady, and how the failure to recognize rational
and moral restraints on daring led both of them to lose their humanity.
2) I began a discussion of the Exodus account of the Ten Commandments
with my high school Moral Theology class by asking why “God spoke all
these words.” This led us to ask further questions: Why
didn’t God write them down right away? Why did God bring them
to Sinai in the first place? How did the Israelites react to
God speaking with them? How important was Moses in the relationship
between God and Israel?
3) With an on-line class of sophomores at Regina Coeli Academy, I
asked why Homer’s Iliad ends with the burial of Hector. This
question led to seeing how the rage of Achilles was only finally brought
to an end by the pity that he felt for Hector’s father, Priam.
Suggestions
In preparing to lead a discussion class, start with a good reading. Textbooks
don’t lend themselves to discussion, because by making everything clear
they remove the depth of their subjects. Of course, you can have
fine discussions without any book at all, but good books often suggest
to students deeper ideas and clearer arguments than they could develop
on their own. I will often try to find a selection from an important
author that touches on subjects in the textbook; frequently the textbook
itself makes suggestions along those lines.
Choose a question that involves looking at some of the important ideas
brought up in the reading. Or introduce an important question
for you, one that you think will help you to understand the reading
better. Learning with the students in discussion is a great delight
and a wonderful example to students. Or choose a question that will
excite students, since getting them actively involved in the discussion
is a great benefit of this practice. Some teachers will announce
seminar days ahead of time and have students submit questions for discussion.
Having chosen a question (or two or four, just in case the first one
doesn’t go well), think about possible ways students might go with
it. During the discussion, listen carefully. Listening
is the most exhausting and most important part of leading discussions.
Keep track of the conversation, asking yourself how the current topic
relates to the opening question. Try to get students to listen to each
other and to pay attention to texts, to give and seek reasons, to quote
texts to support their points.
Perhaps the hardest discipline for a discussion leader is resisting
the urge to correct mistakes. As kids need their parents to let
them fall when learning to walk or ride a bike, the teacher has to
let his students make mistakes. Always remember that students
are developing good habits of learning even if they are making mistakes
about a particular subject.
Frequently, through the assistance of fellow students, they will come
to see their mistakes. Many mistakes are irrelevant to the important
issues being discussed; most will be forgotten after class. When
you do move to correct important mistakes, do it by proposing another
text for their consideration. Ask them how this might fit with
what they’ve said. Or suggest your idea, giving the reasons for
it and asking what they think of that. Leave it open for them
to reject what you’re suggesting, as long as they understand your reasons
for it.
Conclusion
In most schools, Socratic discussion will never replace lectures,
question and answer, and other more traditional forms of teaching. But
it does offer an irreplaceable experience of wonder, joy, and excitement
for both students and teacher.
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