A Socratic Method Learning Experience

[Aaron Silvers]

Peter Berking, an ISD for ADL, shared his thoughts about Socratic
Learning in the context of Future Learning Experiences this morning. I
wanted to call attention to this, as it makes for an interesting
discussion.

In the 1980s there was an education project called Project SEED which
teaches algebra and calculus to elementary school students who are
classified as both belonging to a minority and within a poverty-level
demographic. If this sounds interesting on its own merit, consider
that the project employed a learning paradigm called the Discovery
Method, an approach Berking describes as “Socratic Learning.”

The fundamental principle of this method is that students are guided
(through carefully-crafted teacher questions) to “invent” the target
content themselves. The teacher does not use lecture or materials to
didactically convey the subject matter. Advantages of using this
method are:

1. Inspiring a deep understanding and thorough retention of subject
matter through the experience of “inventing” it
2. Intrinsically incorporating an active and engaging learning process
3. Fostering self-confidence in the learners’ capacity to learn, as
well as in their general intellectual abilities (especially when they
“invent” subject matter that is beyond their grade level, as in the
case of Project SEED).

Peter's post describes how Project SEED applied Socratic Learning and
how Socratic Learning might be applied in a future learning
experience.

https://sites.google.com/a/adlnet.gov/future-learning-experience-project/project-updates/asocraticmethodlearningexperience