Socratic

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Socratic Seminars
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The Vision

• Socrates believed that enabling students to think
  for themselves was more important than filling
  their heads with
  right answers.

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The Vision

• Participants seek deeper understanding of complex
  ideas through rigorously thoughtful dialogue,
  rather than by memorizing bits of information.

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What are Socratic Seminars?

• Highly motivating form of intellectual and
  scholarly discourse.

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What are Socratic Seminars?

• Usually range from 30-50 minutes
• An effective
  Socratic Seminar
  creates dialogue
  as opposed to
  debate.

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Starting Dialogue

• Asking questions is the key!
• A leader prompts the use of dialogue
• Participants learn to be less attached to their
  ideas and less reliant on persuasion for
  influencing opinions.
• Dialogue is a skill of collaboration that enables
  groups to create
  collective thinking.

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Dialogue is NOT Debate!
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Four Elements

• An effective seminar consists of four
  interdependent elements
• 1. the topic/text being considered
• 2. the questions raised
• 3. the seminar leader, and
• 4. the participants

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The Text

• A seminar text can be drawn from readings in
  literature, history, science, math, health, and
  philosophy or from works of art or music.

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The Question

• An opening question has no right answer
• It reflects a genuine curiosity on the part of
  the leader.

Should human embryos be cloned in order to save
lives?
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The Leader

• Plays a dual role as leader and participant
• Consciously leads a thoughtful exploration of the
  ideas in the text.
• As a seminar participant,
  actively engages in the
  group's exploration of
  the text.

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The Participants

• Share responsibility for the quality of the
  seminar.

• Most effective when
  participants
• study the text closely
  in advance
• listen actively

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The Participants

• Most effective when participants

• share their ideas and
  questions in response
  to others
• search for evidence
  in the text to support
  their ideas

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Conducting a Fishbowl

• Divide the class into
  Inner and
  Outer
  circles

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Responsibilities of the inner circle members

• Students are to clear desks and display only
  prepared answers to the discussion questions.
• Students, not the teacher, determine the first
  speaker.
• A student enters the discussion only when the
  previous speaker indicates that he or she has
  finished.

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Responsibilities of the outer circle members

• students in the outer circle are to script as
  much of the discussion content as possible as the
  discussion evolves.
• If the inner circle decides to reach a consensus,
  students of the outer circle are required to
  summarize and record the consensus

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Philosophical Chairs

• Philosophical Chairs differs from Socratic
  Seminar in that it is not dependent on a text
• Philosophical Chairs focuses on a central
  statement or topic that is controversial.
• Philosophical Chairs basic format remains the
  same from grade level to grade level,

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Guidelines for Philosophical Chairs

• Classroom Setup
• Chairs/desks are set up facing each other with
  about half facing one way and half facing the
  opposite way.

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Directions for Philosophical Chairs

• A statement is presented to the students.
• Those who agree with the central statement sit on
  one side and those who disagree sit on the other
  side.
• A mediator, who will remain neutral and call on
  sides to speak, is positioned between the two
  sides

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Directions for Philosophical Chairs

• The mediator recognizes someone from the side of
  the classroom that agrees with the central
  statement to begin the discussion with an
  argument in favor of the position stated.
• Next, the mediator will recognize someone from
  the other side to respond to the argument.

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Nuclear Power Pros and Cons
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What do you think?

• Nuclear Power is the best and most viable
  alternative fuel sources

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What do you think?
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Designed by The RHS AVID Team Mr. Earl Hankerson,
Director Mr. Perry L. West. Science Dept.
Chair Adapted and revised from the AVID Socratic
Seminar