National Institute for Literacy
 

[ProfessionalDevelopment 2366] Re: Questioning and DiscussionStrategies for Practicing Critical Thinking

Steve Kaufmann steve at thelinguist.com
Fri Jul 18 15:31:43 EDT 2008


As someone who experienced the French education system in University where
this dialectic approach is "de rigeur", and in fact was told by a law
professor in Paris, that "form is more important than content", I can attest
to the usefulness of this formula when having to organize one's thoughts for
an exposé or essay.

However, it severely constricts thinking. I prefer the free flow of ideas.
To me the big issue is words. How many words does a person have? How well
does he or she use them together with other words? How widely has the person
read? How do we get people to read more, and listen to more, with the
convenience of audio books and podcasts today.

I agree with Michael that the Socratic method is more a means for a teacher
to lead a student where the teacher wants to go. Let the learner ask the
questions. And if the learner has not read or listened to much, he or she
will have trouble formulating any questions.

Steve



--
Steve Kaufmann
www.lingq.com
1-604-922-8514
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