How Socratic Pedagogy Works

Abstract

"Wisdom Begins in Wonder" Socrates TS 17 What critical thinking is, how it is defined, and whether or not it can be measured are topics that are hotly debated in the philosophical and educational literature, What is not debated, however, is the "urgent need to teach thinking skills at all levels of :::ducation" (Carr, 1990). The current literature on Socratic pedagogy frequently addresses why it is important to give reasons for one's positions, and why thinking critically is beneficial for individual students, communities and society. The gap that now needs to be filled is to show the relationship between critical thinking and Socratic pedagogy. To do so it is necessary to first clarify how the Socratic method achieves its epistemological ambi- tions. Once this is clear, I will go through a step-by-step method explaining how indi· vidual educators can implement this in their classrooms, Thus, I will first explain how Socratic pedagogy works and then provide some general guidelines for conducting a Socratic seminar .