Socratic Pedagogy: Perplexity, humiliation, shame and a broken egg

Boghossian, Peter

doi:10.1111/j.1469-5812.2011.00773.x

Cited by 19 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…This is not necessarily a negative consequence and is often an important step in the learning process. 18 When students recognize their knowledge gaps, it can spur them to clarify ideas and seek to better understand the concepts.…”

Section: Strategies For Formulating Questions Socratic Methods Questiomentioning

confidence: 99%

Best Practice Strategies for Effective Use of Questions as a Teaching Tool

Tofade

Elsner

Haines

2013

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education

254

221

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Questions have long been used as a teaching tool by teachers and preceptors to assess students' knowledge, promote comprehension, and stimulate critical thinking. Well-crafted questions lead to new insights, generate discussion, and promote the comprehensive exploration of subject matter. Poorly constructed questions can stifle learning by creating confusion, intimidating students, and limiting creative thinking. Teachers most often ask lower-order, convergent questions that rely on students' factual recall of prior knowledge rather than asking higher-order, divergent questions that promote deep thinking, requiring students to analyze and evaluate concepts. This review summarizes the taxonomy of questions, provides strategies for formulating effective questions, and explores practical considerations to enhance student engagement and promote critical thinking. These concepts can be applied in the classroom and in experiential learning environments.Keywords: questioning, critical thinking, pedagogy, effective teaching, teaching tool INTRODUCTIONUsing questions to teach is an age-old practice and has been a cornerstone of education for centuries. 1,2 Questions are often used to stimulate the recall of prior knowledge, promote comprehension, and build critical-thinking skills. Teachers ask questions to help students uncover what has been learned, to comprehensively explore the subject matter, and to generate discussion and peerto-peer interaction. Student-initiated questions increase higher-order learning by requiring them to analyze information, connect seemingly disparate concepts, and articulate their thoughts. 3 Indeed, questions are ubiquitous, but are the right kinds of questions -ones that promote learning, not recall -asked at the appropriate time? 4 Poor questions can stifle learning by creating confusion, intimidating students, and limiting creative thinking. 5 Effective questions asked in a psychologically safe learning environment support student learning by probing for understanding, encouraging creativity, stimulating critical thinking, and enhancing confidence. 6 The art of asking the right questions at the appropriate time is not innate. 7 Bloom's taxonomy of learning categorizes cognitive levels into several domains. 8 Questions that elicit responses in the knowledge, comprehension, and application domains are frequently considered lower-order questions, while questions in the analysis, synthesis, and evaluation domains are considered higherorder questions. 9 Higher-order questions elicit deeper and critical thinking; therefore, teachers are encouraged to ask questions in these domains (Table 1). 2,[10][11][12] This does not mean that lower-order questions should not be asked. It is appropriate to ask questions to address all cognitive domains as long as the desired learning outcome is kept in mind and a good mix of questions is used during each teaching session. 2 Given that the learning objectives in most courses in graduate and professional degree programs are often intended to stimulate high ord...

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Section: Strategies For Formulating Questions Socratic Methods Questiomentioning

confidence: 99%

Best Practice Strategies for Effective Use of Questions as a Teaching Tool

Tofade

Elsner

Haines

2013

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education

254

221

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Acceptance/rejection of the hypothesis (participants accept or reject the counterexample); 5. Action (acting on the findings of the inquiry) (Boghossian, 2012).…”

Section: Socratic Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socratic Method as an Approach to Teaching

2016

European Researcher

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In this article we presented the theoretical view of Socrates' life and his method in teaching. After the biographical facts of Socrates and his life, we explained the method he used in teaching and the two main types of his method, Classic and Modern Socratic Method. Since the core of Socrates' approach is the dialogue as a form of teaching we explained how exactly the Socratic dialogue goes. Besides that, we presented two examples of dialogues that Socrates led, Meno and Gorgias. Socratic circle is also one of the aspects that we presented in this paper. It is the form of seminars that is crucial for group discussions of a given theme. At the end, some disadvantages of the Method are explained. With this paper, the reader can get the conception of this approach of teaching and can use Socrates as an example of how successfull teacher leads his students towards the goal.

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“…In some law schools, the name 'Socratic method' is given to a kind of ritualised bullying in which the professor humiliates one student after another by asking questions until an inadequacy is revealed in the student's preparation of the assigned reading (though contrast Reich, 2003, andBoghossian, 2012). This situation is very different from that of those with whom the historical and the Platonic Socrates conversed.…”

Section: Plato and Womenmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…11 His questions were deployed to force answerers into inconsistency (elenchus), thus exposing their ignorance, numbing them as an electric fish does (Meno 80a, 84b); for a fuller description, see Boghossian (2012). Plato represents Socrates asking questions in this way, rather than speaking didactically from a position of authority, in his elenctic dialogues, specifically the Alcibiades I, Charmides, Euthydemus, Euthyphro, Gorgias, Hippias Major, Hippias Minor, Ion, Laches, Lysis, Meno, and Protagoras, and also in Book One of the Republic.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Peers on Socrates and Plato

Mackenzie

2013

Educational Philosophy and Theory

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Socratic Pedagogy: Perplexity, humiliation, shame and a broken egg

Cited by 19 publications

References 28 publications

Best Practice Strategies for Effective Use of Questions as a Teaching Tool

Best Practice Strategies for Effective Use of Questions as a Teaching Tool

Socratic Method as an Approach to Teaching

Peers on Socrates and Plato

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