Provided by Sarah Dukes
Socratic Debate is a form of cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking.
In a Socratic debate, students help one another understand a key idea / concept / text through a group discussion format. Students are responsible for facilitating their group discussion, whilst also practicing how to listen to one another.
Format: inner and outer circle. Inner circle lead discussion; outer circle participate through listening. Each pupil on outer circle gets a ‘focus card’ with a particular skill to concentrate on (this can be linked to the overall skills within the text, or a skill linked to listening and debating – see examples).
Inner circle – read through the text. Give them a question to start them off. They lead the discussion.
- Teach listening skills before
- Give students time to prepare – this can involve reading and annotating a text, writing down key questions, researching a topic etc.
- Give all students an overall objective or learning question to focus their discussion, and encourage them to try and reach an agreement.
- Stick to the rules – outer circle (and teacher) wait to be invited into the discussion; inner circle lead: don’t mind awkward silences at first.
- Have back-up questions ready
- Incorporate time to reflect and evaluate on both S&L skills, but also on the content of the debate.
You can find more information in the CPD folder on Staff Academic.
In the classroom 