Haleema Abbas

BC190203815
hlmaabs95@gmail.com

Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices (EDU406)

Assignment 2 (Spring 2019)
Total Marks: 20

● Question: 1
Explain Socratic Method in your own words? What is its relevance with critical thinking in te
aching learning process? Marks=10

Answer:
○ Socratic Method ○
Socrates (470-399 BC) was a Greek philosopher who sought to get to th
e foundations of his student's and colleagues views by asking continual questions until a contr
adiction was exposed, thus proving the fallacy of the initial assumption. This became known
as the Socratic Method, and may be Socrate's most enduring contribution to philosophy.
Socrates himself never spelled out a "method". However, the Socratic method is named after
him because Socrates, more than any other before or since, models for us philosophy practice
d-philosophy as deed, as way of living, as something that any of us can do.
It is an open system of philosophical inquiry that allows one to interrogate from many vantag
e points.
A Socratic dialogue reveals how different our outlooks can be on concepts we use every day.
It reveals how different our philosophies are, and often how tenable or untenable, as the case
may be a range of philosophies can be. Moreover, even the most universally recognized and u
sed concept, when subjected to Socratic scrutiny, might reveal not only that there is not unive
rsal agreement, after all, on the meaning of any given concept, but that every single person ha
s a somewhat different take on each and every concept under the sun.
What distinguishes the Socratic method from mere non systematic inquiry is the sustained att
empt to explore the ramifications of certain opinions and then offer compelling objections an
d alternatives.
This scrupulous and exhaustive from of inquiry in many ways resembles the scientific metho
d. But unlike Socratic inquiry, scientific inquiry would often lead us to believe that whatever
is not measurable cannot be investigated. This "belief " fails to address such paramount huma
n concerns as sorrow and joy and suffering from love.
○ Socratic Method and Critical Thinking Process ○
According to Paul & Elder (2007), Socra
tic questioning is an art which is closely linked to critical thinking because it is vital to the bri
lliance of thinking. The term "Socratic " adds depth, systematicity, and a long lasting curiosit
y in evaluating the reality or plausibility of viewpoints to the art of questioning. Both Socratic
discussion and critical thinking have a common goal. The conceptual tools, which are necess
ary to understand how the mind works, are provided by critical thinking (in its search of truth
and meaning).
The objective of critical thinking is to build an extra layer of thinking and a strong internal vo
ice of reason. Socratic discussion cultivates that voice by clearly paying attention to self-direc
ted, disciplined questioning.
Questions are either productive which focus on higher order thinking (analysis, synthesis, ev
aluation categories) or reproductive which focus on lower order thinking (recall, comprehens
ion, application categories). The former gives the learners a chance to generate, assess, or ana
lyze. These types of questions are usually divergent and open ended. The latter makes the lear
ners to remember something or use knowledge delivered by the instructor. These questions us
ually come with one correct answer and are normally convergent (Tienken, et al., 2009).
Socratic Method among their students, discovered that students learn to discover evidence in t
he text, use questioning to analyze the text, and also write an answer showing the major elem
ents of the story. They stated that the skills assist the learners to get prepared to reply to a do
cument based question. After using Socratic discussions, it was noticed that the students "felt
more comfortable sharing their ideas, encouraging one another to think out of the box".
According to the results, the participant's postings indicated low or moderate level of critical t
hinking. Although most of the respondents showed critical thinking skills to some extent, a li
mited number of postings reflected high levels of critical thinking on a consistent basis. How
ever, the student's critical thinking scores showed a slight improvement from the first to the s
econd discussions. It is worth mentioning that critical thinking is a construct that may change
and develop over time ( Darby, 2007; Gervey, Drout, & Wang, 2009).
The oldest, and still the most powerful, teaching tactic for fostering critical thinking is Socrati
c teaching. In Socratic teaching we focus on giving students questions, not answers. We mod
el an inquiring, probing mind by continually probing into the subject with questions. Fortunat
ely, the abilities we gain by focusing on the elements of reasoning in a disciplined and self-as
sessing way, and the logical relationships that result from such disciplined thought, prepare u
s for Socratic questioning.

Question: 2
Write steps of Socratic Method and key questions in each step. Marks=10

Answer:
 The Socratic approach to questioning is based on the practice of disciplined, thought
ful dialogue.
The Socratic Questioning Technique is an effective way to explore ideas in depth. It can be u
sed at all levels and is a helpful tool for all teachers. It can be used at different points within a
unit or project. By using Socratic Questioning, teachers promote independent thinking in thei
r students and give them owership of what they are learning.
● Tips for Using Socratic Questioning ●
○ Plan significant questions that provide meaning and direction to the dialogue.
○ Use wait time: Allow at least thirty seconds for students to respond.
○ Follow up on students' response.
○ Ask probing questions.
○ Periodically summaries in writing key points that have been discussed.
○ Draw as many students as possible into the discussion.
○ Let students discover knowledge on their own through the probing questions the tea
cher poses.

● Steps to applying Socratic Question to reflective practice ●

1- Clarification questions ° What do you mean by...?

° Could you put that another way?
° What do you think is the main issue?
° Could you give us an example
° Could you expand upon that point further?

2 - Questions about an initial question or ° Why is this question is important

issue; ° Is this question easy or difficult to answer?
° Why do you think that?
° What assumption car we make based on thi
s question?
° Do this question lead to another important
issues and questions?
3- Assumption questions;
4- Reason and evidence questions;
5- Origin or source questions;
6- Implication and Consequence questions;
° why would someone make this assumption?
° What is _____ assuming here?
° What could we assume instead?
° You seem to be assuming _____?
° Do I understand you correctly?
° What would be an example?
° Why do you think this is true?
° What other information do we need
° Could you explain your reason to us?
° Is there reason to doubt that evidence?
° By what reasoning did you come to that con
clusion?
° What led you to that belief?
° Is this your idea or do you hear if from som
e place else?
° Have you always felt this way?
° Has your opinion been influenced by somet
hing or someone?
° Where did you get that idea?
° What effect would that have?
° Could that really happen or probably happe
n?
° What is an alternative?
° What are you implying by that?
° If that happened, what else would happen a
s a result? Why?
7- viewpoint Questions; ° How could other groups of people respond t
his question? Why?
° How could you answer the objection that _
__ would make?
° What might someone who believed _____
think?
° What is an alternative?
° How are ____ and ____ idea's alike? Differ
ent?