The Socratic Method

The Socratic method, one of Langdell’s most well-entrenched reforms to legal education, remains the law’s signature pedagogical technique. Although the term means different things to different people, its essence in the law school classroom is student analysis of cases led by a teacher, who calls on students to articulate gradually deeper understandings of a legal doctrine or theory. Socratic learning requires students to think on the spot, answer precisely, and take intellectual risks. For over a decade now, the Socratic method has been out of fashion among those who write about legal pedagogy. In addition, the method’s critics describe what they view as the alienation and humiliation of students, an inattention to legal theory and professionalism, and a lack of clear learning outcomes. Indeed, both Best Practices for Legal Education and Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law criticized or downplayed the value of the Socratic method. Best Practices concluded that the Socratic method should be “used sparingly.” These critiques undervalue the Socratic method. As the Carnegie Report acknowledged, the Socratic method is an easily scalable, effective, deeply engaging way to achieve active student learning, particularly but not only in larger doctrinal classes. Similarly, Best Practices recognized that “[t]ailored and applied flexibly, the case method . . . can provide a logical, overall methodology for approaching and thinking about all sorts of situations.” Those positive findings remain true. The Socratic method gives students a strong incentive to prepare well for class every day, and during class it forces both students and the teacher to focus intensely, to listen to others, and to express their ideas in a cogent, persuasive, and professional manner. These qualities—thorough preparation, focus, listening skills, cogent analysis, and good judgment—are fundamental to successful lawyering. Finally, contrary to its reputation, the Socratic method is also a wonderful way to create a sense of community and shared learning purpose among students, even in a large class. These attributes of Socratic teaching look even stronger in comparison with the most commonly used alternative—lectures, perhaps punctuated by text-heavy PowerPoint slides. Indeed, while the method has fallen from favor in law schools, cutting-edge colleges are now seeking to expand Socratic-type interactive teaching in order to raise the level of engagement among students. In recognition of the continuing centrality and vitality of the Socratic method, this section therefore focuses on best practices for optimizing the effectiveness of this active learning style. The basics of the Socratic method are well described elsewhere (and will have been experienced by almost all readers of this volume).Therefore, this section will not describe the methodology in detail. Instead, it will situate the Socratic method within a framework describing the level of active learning of the most frequently used pedagogical techniques in the non-clinical law school classroom. Then it will focus on three fundamental tools for creating and maintaining a successful course that uses the Socratic method for active learning.https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/faculty-chapters/1009/thumbnail.jp

Socratic as Mathematics Learning Application for Differential Equations Concept

Technological improvements in the era of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 can be applied to learning mathematics as a medium of improving teacher performance. In addition, a pandemic situation forces teachers and students to implement online learning. One of the learning media that can help teachers in learning mathematics online is Socratic. The Socratic system generally consists of four basic components: acting humanely, thinking humanely, thinking rationally and acting rationally. For example, the Socratic can provide alternative solutions to the differential equations problems. Mathematics problems can be recorded by the Socratic through three main features:1) home screen, which is used to take pictures of solving the problem needed; 2) search results, the image that has been recorded will be searched for a solution through Socratic's artificial intelligence in internet database, and 3) an explanation, the search results that have been obtained, have their own explanation. Teachers and students as users may find the best solution for each explanation by the Socratic. Meanwhile, this study uses four stages of the literature review process:1) search for relevant literature, 2) evaluation and source selection, 3) identification of themes, and 4) outline of the structure of the writing. This paper systematically investigates the use of the Socratic as a technology application that can assist mathematical problems

The Socratic Method

The Socratic method, one of Langdell’s most well-entrenched reforms to legal education, remains the law’s signature pedagogical technique. Although the term means different things to different people, its essence in the law school classroom is student analysis of cases led by a teacher, who calls on students to articulate gradually deeper understandings of a legal doctrine or theory. Socratic learning requires students to think on the spot, answer precisely, and take intellectual risks. For over a decade now, the Socratic method has been out of fashion among those who write about legal pedagogy. In addition, the method’s critics describe what they view as the alienation and humiliation of students, an inattention to legal theory and professionalism, and a lack of clear learning outcomes. Indeed, both Best Practices for Legal Education and Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law criticized or downplayed the value of the Socratic method. Best Practices concluded that the Socratic method should be “used sparingly.” These critiques undervalue the Socratic method. As the Carnegie Report acknowledged, the Socratic method is an easily scalable, effective, deeply engaging way to achieve active student learning, particularly but not only in larger doctrinal classes. Similarly, Best Practices recognized that “[t]ailored and applied flexibly, the case method . . . can provide a logical, overall methodology for approaching and thinking about all sorts of situations.” Those positive findings remain true. The Socratic method gives students a strong incentive to prepare well for class every day, and during class it forces both students and the teacher to focus intensely, to listen to others, and to express their ideas in a cogent, persuasive, and professional manner. These qualities—thorough preparation, focus, listening skills, cogent analysis, and good judgment—are fundamental to successful lawyering. Finally, contrary to its reputation, the Socratic method is also a wonderful way to create a sense of community and shared learning purpose among students, even in a large class. These attributes of Socratic teaching look even stronger in comparison with the most commonly used alternative—lectures, perhaps punctuated by text-heavy PowerPoint slides. Indeed, while the method has fallen from favor in law schools, cutting-edge colleges are now seeking to expand Socratic-type interactive teaching in order to raise the level of engagement among students. In recognition of the continuing centrality and vitality of the Socratic method, this section therefore focuses on best practices for optimizing the effectiveness of this active learning style. The basics of the Socratic method are well described elsewhere (and will have been experienced by almost all readers of this volume).Therefore, this section will not describe the methodology in detail. Instead, it will situate the Socratic method within a framework describing the level of active learning of the most frequently used pedagogical techniques in the non-clinical law school classroom. Then it will focus on three fundamental tools for creating and maintaining a successful course that uses the Socratic method for active learning.https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/faculty-books/1008/thumbnail.jp

Evaluation of Critical Thinking Ability Through The Development of Contextual Physics Teaching Materials Assisted by Socratic Question

This research is one of the stages of developing contextual teaching materials assisted by Socratic questions in physics learning with the primary material of Thermodynamics. The purpose of the evaluation stage is to determine the effectiveness of applying contextual teaching materials assisted by Socratic questions on students' critical thinking skills. The development research was carried out using the ADDIE method, which consisted of the following stages: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation. The implementation of teaching materials using Socratic questions with Thermodynamics material was carried out for four meetings which 64 students attended. The parameters measured in this evaluation stage are the product quality of teaching materials and students' critical thinking skills. The results showed that (1) the process of developing contextual physics teaching materials assisted by Socratic Questions had met the product quality criteria, which included validity, practicality, and effectiveness (2) there was a significant difference between students' critical thinking skills in physics using Socratic-assisted contextual teaching materials—question without product application. In addition, it was found that the profile of students' critical thinking skills in physics learning using contextual physics teaching materials products Socratic questions was higher than in learning that did not use contextual physics teaching materials assisted by Socratic questions (with critical thinking indicators consisting of giving arguments, induction, evaluating, and make decisions)

Evaluation of Critical Thinking Ability Through The Development of Contextual Physics Teaching Materials Assisted by Socratic Question

This research is one of the stages of developing contextual teaching materials assisted by Socratic questions in physics learning with the primary material of Thermodynamics. The purpose of the evaluation stage is to determine the effectiveness of applying contextual teaching materials assisted by Socratic questions on students' critical thinking skills. The development research was carried out using the ADDIE method, which consisted of the following stages: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation. The implementation of teaching materials using Socratic questions with Thermodynamics material was carried out for four meetings which 64 students attended. The parameters measured in this evaluation stage are the product quality of teaching materials and students' critical thinking skills. The results showed that (1) the process of developing contextual physics teaching materials assisted by Socratic Questions had met the product quality criteria, which included validity, practicality, and effectiveness (2) there was a significant difference between students' critical thinking skills in physics using Socratic-assisted contextual teaching materials—question without product application. In addition, it was found that the profile of students' critical thinking skills in physics learning using contextual physics teaching materials products Socratic questions was higher than in learning that did not use contextual physics teaching materials assisted by Socratic questions (with critical thinking indicators consisting of giving arguments, induction, evaluating, and make decisions)

Motivation towards learning perceived in Socratic seminar versus traditional lecture

As discussed in past literature, high school students often lack motivation towards learning (Crow, 2007; Lumsden, 1995). This lack of motivation interferes with student learning (Lumsden,1995; Vansteenkiste, Simons, Lens, Soenens, & Matos, 2005). At the middle school and collegiate level, Socratic Seminar is seen to provide motivation towards learning in students (Copeland, 2005; Mee, 2000; Strong, 1996); however, there is a need for research on student motivation as a result of Socratic Seminar at the high school level. The purpose of this study is to identify the extent to which, if any, differences exist in student motivation towards learning among students receiving English instruction via Socratic Seminar versus traditional lecture at the high school level. It was hypothesized that Socratic Seminar provides a better opportunity for students to experience the IV pillars of motivation as described by John Keller (1987a)--attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction--than traditional lecture does. A quantitative correlational design was implemented with a cross-sectional data collection administered post-implementation of traditional lecture 3 times and post-implementation of Socratic Seminar 3 times over an 8-week period with 139 11th grade English students at Lutheran High School of Orange County. The responses were viewed as a group through the application of chi-squares. Next, chi-squares were applied to analyze the group\u27s results for each question from the modified CIS. Then, the results were analyzed via Cramer\u27s V within the individual constructs of motivation as described by the CIS, which include: attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction. The results displayed Socratic Seminar as providing a more motivating experience towards learning in certain areas of motivation while lecture was seen to be more motivating for other areas of motivation. It was originally believed the application of Socratic Seminar would provide higher student motivation toward learning. From these results, it was learned that teachers must seek a balanced approach in their teaching by applying both Socratic Seminar and lecture. In a broader sense, the lesson learned is that different teaching strategies motivate students in different ways and a wide range of teaching strategies ought to be applied

Evaluation of Critical Thinking Ability Through The Development of Contextual Physics Teaching Materials Assisted by Socratic Question

This research is one of the stages of developing contextual teaching materials assisted by Socratic questions in physics learning with the primary material of Thermodynamics. The purpose of the evaluation stage is to determine the effectiveness of applying contextual teaching materials assisted by Socratic questions on students' critical thinking skills. The development research was carried out using the ADDIE method, which consisted of the following stages: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation. The implementation of teaching materials using Socratic questions with Thermodynamics material was carried out for four meetings which 64 students attended. The parameters measured in this evaluation stage are the product quality of teaching materials and students' critical thinking skills. The results showed that (1) the process of developing contextual physics teaching materials assisted by Socratic Questions had met the product quality criteria, which included validity, practicality, and effectiveness (2) there was a significant difference between students' critical thinking skills in physics using Socratic-assisted contextual teaching materials—question without product application. In addition, it was found that the profile of students' critical thinking skills in physics learning using contextual physics teaching materials products Socratic questions was higher than in learning that did not use contextual physics teaching materials assisted by Socratic questions (with critical thinking indicators consisting of giving arguments, induction, evaluating, and make decisions)

Actively Achieving Greater Racial Equity in Law School Classrooms

2020 illustrated the ongoing pervasiveness of implicit and explicit racism in our society. Less well-acknowledged and recognized is the extent to which Socratic pedagogy also reflects those pervasive racist realities while simultaneously resulting in inferior learning based on a teaching method invented 150+ years ago. Despite this racist and outdated reality, the legal academy has been reluctant to alter the traditional method of teaching. Tangible, empirical evidence obtained from data-driven cognitive learning science research demonstrates that active learning not only improves learning outcomes for all students, but also mitigates the structural effects of racism in the classroom thereby increasing racial equity. Most law professors do not fully understand what active learning entails and underestimate how different an active learning classroom looks from a traditional Socratic class. Once educators explore the evidence in this Article supporting active learning as a pedagogical method for increasing greater racial equity in the classroom, understand why most of the rationales frequently cited in support of Socratic teaching are unsupported, and implement the tangible and feasible techniques discussed to facilitate the transition away from Socratic towards active learning, the inertial resistance to the change will be overcome. In so doing, law professors can embrace best teaching practices, achieve maximum learning gains for their students, and create classrooms where every student is engaged, included, and supported in a truly equitable learning environment

“Thinking Like Lawyers” in the Online Environment: Students’ and Faculty Members’ Perceptions of Using the Socratic Method in an Online J.D. Course

With the American Bar Association’s recent move to a more liberal stance on distance learning and the newly gained experience with online education for all law students and legal educators due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear that online legal education, in some form, is here to stay. Additionally, there is no indication that the Socratic method with its strong ties to legal education will be abandoned. Therefore, the legal academy must address how it can continue to use the Socratic method as its preferred pedagogical tool to teach students “to think like lawyers” in online modalities. This mixed methods phenomenological case study explored the perceptions of faculty members and traditional first-semester law students regarding the use of the Socratic method in an online J.D. course. The study used the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework as a lens through which to assess the students’ perceptions of the course. The study involved the CoI survey, interviews with students and the faculty members involved in the course, and observations of the Socratic method in the synchronous Zoom sessions and the use of a simulated Socratic dialogue in the asynchronous modules in the course. The findings were supported by the research concerning online learning and the Socratic method and added insights into this group of traditional first-semester law students, who began their legal education online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, results from this study demonstrate that the Socratic method continues to be the expected pedagogy in law school doctrinal classes by both faculty and students; the Socratic method employed in the synchronous Zoom classes were similar to the traditional Socratic method used in face-to face classes with its inherent benefits and drawbacks; that the asynchronous use of the Socratic method addressed some of those drawbacks; and that the CoI framework supported the findings regarding the Socratic method.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/grad_showcase/1007/thumbnail.jp