Socratic Method

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Have you ever been bored to tears in a lecture-style class or video lesson that didn't help you learn or apply the material?

Contrast that with a class where your teacher might call on you, ask questions, engage in conversation, and encourage you to ask deep questions. These two types of classes have vastly different outcomes. The second class uses a learning method that originated with the ancient Greeks thousands of years ago, called the Socratic Method.

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This approach involves a conversation where students question their assumptions. It is a forum for open-ended inquiry, where both students and teachers use probing questions to develop a deeper understanding of the topic.

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Most people think of math as formulas, problems, and boring lectures, not as a topic for inquiry.

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The best way to teach math is through the Socratic Method, challenging students with guiding questions so they learn the material organically rather than having it thrown at them. This way, learning is subtler and deeper, and students understand why specific theorems make sense rather than memorizing them by rote and immediately forgetting them after a test.

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At Rubicon Prep, each class begins with a challenging but solvable question whose answer becomes the lesson topic. The teacher guides the students through solving the problem and helps them use their imagination to understand the class topic.

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By Rubicon Prep, December 22, 2017