Socratic Teaching Using Selected-Response Format to Enhance Student Engagement and Critical Thinking

Socratic teaching traditionally uses questioning to facilitate learning by exploring students’ thoughts, feelings, and opinions in theoretical and philosophical courses. Socratic questioning as a teaching strategy however can be utilized in a wide variety of education environments to guide learning and facilitate greater classroom engagement (Silberberg, 2024). This presentation will review the use of Socratic Method of teaching and its applicability in building student engagement and enhancement of critical thinking in core classes. It will explore the structured use of selected-response (SR) format questions (multiple-choice questions), as a specific Socratic methodology for problem solving and student engagement in the classroom. At the end of the presentation participants will explores the benefits of SR format questions in teaching, probe students’ understanding and encourage problem solving for practice application. Participants will utilize each aspect of the question (stem, question, answer choices) in learning and discuss strategies for developing SR questions at higher difficulty level on the taxonomy. The session will include demonstration of the question development for utilization in the classroom using AI technology.