Are there other methods similar to Socratic Method which target critical thinking development?
Ariadne Cara Santos I have always felt that everyone should hear the story of how biology and most of the sciences seemed to be born in Aristotle's Lagoon by his insistence of believing only what can see hear taste and test a homage to empirical thinking. the BBC made a wonderful film on the subject https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e12pbSHrzAs
and just listening to the beautiful voice of Professor Armand Leroi is enthralling. Finally, I feel that creating a course based on the logic of communicating combined with the many logical fallacies is the best way to help students and researchers navigate in this complex world.
Sincerely
Prof Chris YUKNA
RE: "Are there other methods similar to Socratic Method which target critical thinking development?"
Here is an answer given on Quora by Charles Fischer, who styles himself as a "Socratic Seminar Expert":
«Yes there are three major ones that share many characteristics. One is Paideia seminars, from the Paideia institute in North Carolina. Another is the Touchstones project out of Maryland. And a third is the junior great books program out of Chicago. All three have curriculum materials for multiple grade levels and multiple subject areas with different pros and cons for each. All three have similarities in that they advocate that the teacher become a facilitator or as they say guide on the side instead of sage on the stage.
«Those would be specifically similar to Socratic seminar. If the question is about the more generic term Socratic method then there are quite a few systems out in the world that advocate question-based learning. Those range from project-based learning to various law schools that still use a question-based system and others that use essential questions to inform curriculum.»
Any methodology that requires students to engage in questioning and debating etc. interesting question Karl Pfeifer
To take part in disputes, argumentation, dialogues, and controversies are but four ways to stimulate critical thinking. They have all a Socratic flavor. Bye the way. E. Bono wrote a lot about critical thinking.
Can I suggest that the Socratic method as dramatised by Plato is the worst method, not the best? Of course, Plato prejudices the debate but there is in fact little scrutiny of Socates' beliefs (for that is what they are) and his questioning led to a doubtful understanding of his opponent's positions-for that is what they are-within a competitive framework.
Socrates was dishonest in this method so perhaps his method was too and the results accrued had limited genuine value.
Blaise Pascal felt that “Man is obviously made for thinking. Therein lies all his dignity and his merit; and his whole duty is to think as he ought.” A contemporary of René Descartes, Pascal is however best remembered for resisting rationalism, which he thought could not determine major truths: “The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know.” Blaise Pascal and René Descartes are reference points for two attitudes to conscious representation of the world: although both saw reason as the primary source of knowledge, they disagreed profoundly over the competence of Man—the truth, as always, lies between faith and radical doubt.
PS: Critical thinking is analytical, judgmental, and selective. Creative (or lateral) thinking is generative, nonjudgmental, and expansive. But, this is not to say critical thinking and creative thinking must be treated separately. Some have spoken of critico-creative thinking to emphasize the positive, imaginative aspects of critical thinking; however, this ungainly expression has not caught on.
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