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Section: March 1998
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The Dialogue
Thriving in Academe
Thriving in Academe
How can I engage my students in active listening and reflection to help them learn to think critically about the issues raised in my lectures?
The skillful and frequent use of questions and probes during lectures is one way to encourage active listening and thoughtful reflection.
As noted critical thinking researcher and scholar Richard Paul points out: "The oldest, and still most powerful, teaching tactic for fostering critical thinking is Socratic teaching. In Socratic teaching we focus on giving students questions, not answers."
How might you begin to employ this method in your classes?
One resource I 've found helpful is to show my students the 1973 film classic, The Paper Chase, with its powerful description of Socratic questioning.
In the film, John Houseman, playing the part of Harvard Law Professor Kingsfield, notes: "We use the Socratic method here. I call on you, ask you a question, and you answer it. "Why don't I just give you a lecture?" "Through my questions, you learn to teach yourself."
The specific questions I use during short mini-lectures are influenced by many of the helpful resources assembled on the Center for Critical Thinking's Web site: www.sonoma.edu/cthink.
The Center also has a three-part video series and offers a variety of micro-publications on the topic.
In formulating and presenting your questions, it's helpful to remember the three pieces of advice that were synthesized in one sentence by Joseph Lowman in his outstanding 1995 text on college teaching: "Discussion questions should be easily understandable by students, put forth decisively, and followed by silence."
--- James Eison, director, Center for Teaching Enhancement, University of South Florida.
References: Lowman, J., Mastering the Techniques of Teaching, second edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995.
Do you have ideas on strategies to encourage critical thinking and
active learning?
You can contribute your insights to a new electronic
NEA resource for college and university faculty. Just send your comments, for
posting on the NEA Web site, to: jeison@helios.acomp.usf.edu.
Or mail to: James Eison, Center for Teaching Enhancement, University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler Ave, SVC 1088, Tampa,FL 33620. Or Fax: 813-974-5620.
Or post your insights on our "Thriving in Academe" discussion board.
