-
-
--------------------------------- 2088 - TEACHING - the Socrates way
-
- The goal of teaching must be to teach students" how to learn". Students need to cultivate the ability to ask questions. This is the cornerstone of critical thinking. It is the exercise needed to learn how to use creativity.
-
- Teachers asking questions appears to be a transferable skill for deep collaborative inquiry. Socrates, and the Socratic Method of Teaching, is to always answer a question with another well thought out another question. Causing the questioner to think through to his or her own answers.
-
- Adhere to the idea that our learning is richer for our mistakes. Reframe the question and allow the students to figure things out. Teach them how to learn. My boss would say, "the problem here is we are not making mistakes fast enough".
-
- Informal learning environments ( ex: San Francisco Exploratorium ) tolerate “ failure” better than school environments do. Many teachers have too little time to allow students to form and pursue their own questions. Too much ground has to be covered in mandated curriculum and standardized presentations and tests. But, the students need to acquire the skill somewhere.
-
- Our democracy relies on an electorate of critical thinkers. Our society depends on people being able to make critical decisions ….… their own medical treatment, care of a parent, global energy demands, what is the truth, filtering through the lies of mainstream media and politicians and authority. Our environment is flooded with data and starving for knowledge.
-
- Learning must not be seen as the ability to retain facts, or to apply prior knowledge to a new situation. Learning in schools must be preparation for future learning. It is a lifelong process. The kids need to learn how to learn.
-
- Of the myriad of courses I have had over nearly 20 years in school curriculum my most important course was in “ Critical Thinking”. (Request this Review if interested in the course summary).
-
- Every human brain is different. Every human brain has capabilities that we cannot access easily. The left brain offers inhibitors to the right brain to prevent stimulus from overloading its circuits. Savants are people who overcome these inhibitors either by accident or by birth. They learn to accomplish amazing mental feats. Learning can be a process to discover capabilities that you did not know you had. (See Review 1575 to learn about savants and some of their amazing abilities)
-
- Genius within is withheld by inhibitors. Creativity and brilliance may be released to some degree in all of us given the right circumstances. We all need to learn how to make the best of our brains. That is the teacher’s challenge as well. If it were easy everybody would be doing it.
-
- Socrates was a great teacher. His method of teaching was not to lecture, not to answer questions. But, more simply to return a more thoughtful question for every question asked. This would allow self-discovery in the pursuit of knowledge. Teaching "how to learn".
-
- To illustrate Socrates teachings. Get a pencil and paper and follow along as Socrates teaches a slave some geometry. He begins by drawing a large square in the sand. He then extends 2 lines through the center to divide the larger square into 4 smaller squares. Now each square is 1 square foot and each side is 2 feet.
-
- Socrates: What is the area of the square? How many square feet are there?
-
- The slave easily sees that the larger square is 4 square feet, the sum of the 4 smaller squares.
-
- Socrates: What would be the length of one side needed to double the area of this square? Double the area is 8 square feet.
-
- The slave instinctively says that each side must be 4 feet long.
-
- Socrates: Instead of telling the slave his answer is wrong. Socrates simply takes his answer and draws a larger square 4 feet on a side. He then shows that inside the larger square are 3 more squares like the previous one. Again dividing each of the squares into smaller 1 foot squares the slave is quick to see that the area is 16 square feet, not the 8 square feet desired.
-
- The slave realizes that sides of 2 feet is too small and sides of 4 feet is too large he says that the answer must be 3 feet sides.
-
- Socrates: Again Socrates takes his answer and draws another square 3 feet on a side. When divided up the count is an area of 9 square feet. The area is too large. How are we going to find the length of the side that will be the correct answer of 8 square feet?
-
- The slave says “ I do not know”
-
- Socrates says this is important knowledge. Before you thought you knew but you were mistaken. Now, you know you don’t know. Now, your mind is open to inquiry for new knowledge.
-
- To help the slave see the solution Socrates asks the slave to go back to the original square that is 4 square feet. Then to the larger square that is 16 square feet. How much bigger is the larger square than the smaller square?
-
- 4 times bigger.
-
- Socrates: We want our answer to be 2 times bigger. Take the smaller square and draw a line from corner across the center to the other corner. You have divided that square in half. Do the same to the other 3 squares. Do the 4 equal lines you drew contain a square inside the larger square?
-
- Yes!
-
- What is the area of one triangle that you have created when you divided the square in half?
-
- ½ for the 4 square feet is 2 square feet. Each triangle is 2 square feet.
-
- Socrates: How many triangles are there?
-
- 4 triangles, each 2 square feet, the total area of the new square is 8 square feet. That is the answer we wanted.
-
- The line stretching from corner to corner of the new square is the proper length to have a square that is 8 square feet.
-
- If the teacher were Pythagoras, instead of Socrates:
-
---------------------- 2 feet^2 + 2 feet^2 + 2 feet^2 + 2 feet^2 = 8 feet^2
-
---------------------- Square root of ( 2^2 + 2^2 ) * Square root of ( 2^2 + 2^2) = ?
-
---------------------- Square root of ( 8 ) * Square root of ( 8) = 8
-
---------------------- ( 2.83 ) * (2.83) = 8
-
- Each side is 2.83 feet long and the hypotenuse of the right triangle is equal to the square root of the sum of the squares of the other 2 sides.
-
- Teacher: What do you call a person who keeps talking when people are no longer listening?
-
- Noah: A teacher.
-
- Teacher: Noah, your composition on “ My Dog” is exactly the same as your sisters. Did you copy Ava’s paper.
-
- Noah: No sir, it’s the same dog.
-
- Teacher, Nathan, name one important thing we have today that we did not have 10 years ago?
-
- Noah: Me
-
- Teacher: Why are you late?
-
- Noah: Class started before I got here.
-
- Teacher: Why are you doing your math multiplications on the floor?
-
- Noah: You said to do it without using the tables.
-
- Maybe it “is” wrong, but you asked me how “ I “ spell it.
-
- When Jenn was in high school the combined ages of Jenn and Debbie was 44 years. Today Debbie is twice as old as Jenn when Debbie was half as old as Jenn will be when Jenn is 3 times as old as Debbie was when Debbie was 3 times as old as Jenn. How old was Jenn and Debbie when Jenn was in high school?
-
- When Jenn was in high school the combined ages of Jenn and Debbie was 44 years
-
- (Request Review 1484 to get my answer.)
-
- May 18, 2019.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Comments appreciated and Pass it on to whomever is interested. ----
--- Some reviews are at: -------------- http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
-- email feedback, corrections, request for copies or Index of all reviews
--- to: ------ jamesdetrick@comcast.net ------ “Jim Detrick” -----------
- https://plus.google.com/u/0/ -- www.facebook.com -- www.twitter.com
--------------------- Saturday, May 18, 2019 -------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment