Socratic Questioning

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Socratic Questioning

• Pedagogy Seminar Series (Fall 2009)
• Critical Thinking Strategies Across the
  Curriculum
• Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning,
• QCC-CUNY

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Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum

• Because virtually all courses in the curriculum
  intend to use techniques
• of critical thinking and to improve students
  critical thinking abilities, this
• seminar will focus on the following objectives
• developing usable critical thinking strategies to
  enrich courses
• incorporating critical thinking techniques in
  writing assignments to improve the quality of
  submissions
• challenging students to probe concepts more
  energetically in class discussions
• testing critical thinking abilities in quizzes
  and exams

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What Is Critical Thinking?

• A Set of Values
• Thinking for yourself, as compared to accepting
  unquestioningly what others want you to believe.
• Exploring new ideas, points of view and
  possibilities.
• Using reason to investigate questions, evaluate
  ideas, advocate positions, and resolve conflicts.
• Including the voices and perspectives of diverse
  groups in the discussion of issues.
• Weighing ideas based on their merits, not who
  advocates them.
• Achieving the best possible resolution of
  questions
• A Set of Skills
• Inquiry Skills the ability to frame questions
  and gather information.
• Understanding evaluation skills the ability
  to understand others ideas and evaluate
  arguments offered in support of them.
• Advocacy Skills the ability to formulate
  positions and support them in a manner that
  promotes reasoned discussion.

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Elements of Critical Thinking
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What is Socratic Questioning

• Socratic questioning is a discussion
• led by a person who does nothing but asks
  questions
• the questions are systematic and disciplined
• the discussion is directed by the leaders
  questions
• the participants are helped to go beneath the
  surface of what is being discussed
• the questions are designed to probe into the
  complexities of one or more fundamental ideas or
  questions
• Source www.criticalthinking.org

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Socratic Questioning

• Raises basic issues
• Probes beneath the surface of things
• Pursues problematic areas of thought
• Helps students discover the structure of their
  own thought
• Helps students develop sensitivity to clarity,
  accuracy, relevance, and depth
• Helps students arrive at judgments through their
  own reasoning
• Helps students analyze thinking its purposes,
  assumptions, questions, points of view,
  information, inferences, concepts, and
  implications
• Source www.criticalthinking.org

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Questions for Socratic Dialogue

• Questions of Clarification
• Questions that probe Purpose
• Questions that probe Assumptions
• Questions that probe Information, Reasons,
  Evidence, and Causes
• Questions about Viewpoints or Perspectives
• Questions that probe Implications and
  Consequences
• Questions about Question
• Questions that probe Concepts
• Questions that probe Inferences and
  Interpretations
• Source www.criticalthinking.org