Socratic+Teaching

toc =Audio Files for This Page= Download the mp3s by right-clicking on the links. Play them directly by clicking on the Play button.

Agenda, etc.
media type="file" key="Socratic Method Introduction.mp3"

First Example of Socratic Teaching
media type="file" key="socratic method math.mp3" width="240" height="20" =Agenda= The goal of this section is for you to understand what Socratic teaching is and how it works. The unit provides further (optional) information in case you would like to incorporate this type of teaching in your own classroom. Following the brief introduction, there are readings and a video to help you to understand the Socratic method of teaching. Engage with these materials and then answer the questions below. Spend no more than 1 hour on this.

=Introduction= The socratic method is based in the way the Greek philosopher, Socrates, taught, as recorded by Plato. He asked questions and the person he was teaching would answer them. Socrates could help someone move forward in understanding of something by having that person explore the implications of ideas. Optional: here are Plato's texts, if you are interested: [] = = =Examples of Socratic Teaching= The socratic teaching method requires students to be active in their learning; the person asking the questions guides the exploration of new ideas. Read the following, which is an example of teaching base 2 using the socratic method. The students had never heard of base 2 before: []

This teacher had set up a challenging situation by doing the lesson on a Friday afternoon towards the end of the school year. The level of engagement of the students suggests that this is an effective way to teach.

Here is a video of a different example (go to youtube itself for the second part of this video): media type="youtube" key="WzKSNQ34vcI" height="315" width="420"

=Questions= The question becomes, how do you plan for a socratic teaching session?


 * Given the two examples here, what do you think the teachers had in mind for the goal of each session?
 * What did they choose for starting points? Why do you think they chose those starting points?
 * How did they incorporate existing student knowledge? What are some ways they extended that knowledge?
 * These were examples in math. Can you think of a topic you might teach using the Socratic method? What would be your goals for the session and your starting points?

=Optional Further Information= Here is a 61 page "book" that is definitely opinionated but has several examples of Socratic teaching that might be helpful if you want to implement this in your own classroom: