The Socratic method is a 3,000-year-old teaching strategy that involves carefully questioning students until they discover answers on their own. The method is widely recognized as one of the best ways to encourage critical thinking and self-directed, effective learning. Almost any student who has experienced learning with the Socratic method knows it can be stressful in an in-person classroom. However, when the Socratic method is used through digital technologies, many students will feel more comfortable engaging in respectful discussion that avoids unnecessary conflict.

One approach is to give students more agency to facilitate the Socratic method themselves by combining Nominal Group Technique (NGT) with Socratic questioning. NGT is a structured method to support the group discussion by inviting all group members to contribute their ideas to the discussion. When used in an educational context, NGT has been widely reported as an effective method to support discussion in online learning mode. The benefits include the ability to engage all the students in the group—including those with passive participation—to improve problem-solving, and critical thinking skills. Research shows that “combining NGT with Socratic questioning led to a significant effect on the improvement in students' critical thinking skills in an online context” (Lintangsari, et al., 2022).

Let’s start by reviewing the process for Nominal Group Technique in an online, discussion based context. For LSA instructors there are a variety of platforms for online discussion including Canvas Discussions, Yellowdig, and Harmonize.

Nominal Group Technique (NGT)

Step 1: Silent Idea Generation

The problem, situation, or question must be stated clearly and concisely on the discussion platform. If students were working in-person, they would have silent time to begin thinking before hearing ideas from others. This promotes more divergent thinking, as students have not been influenced by their classmates. The online environment allows for this “silence” by keeping students from seeing group members' posts until they post themselves, which is a feature that can be turned on in any of our online discussion platforms.

Step 2: Discussion of Ideas

1st post - For the first post, students should be instructed to clarify ideas and ask questions but not to evaluate the ideas yet. This is the brainstorming process.

2nd post - After students have had time to reflect on all the ideas, they can now thoroughly evaluate the ideas as to which idea/s seem the most viable or the best solution. Critical thinking and exhaustive analysis are encouraged. Students may also combine ideas or refine them in some way.

Step 3: Voting and Ranking

The group facilitator can post the list of generated ideas on the group discussion forum or use a Harmonize poll (can be anonymous). All members are asked to vote on and rank ideas.

Step 4: Concluding - Group Consensus

The most voted idea will be the final group decision and will be reported to the whole class, either when meeting in=person or in another online thread.

Step 5: Report Writing

The group or group facilitator writes a discussion report summarizing the group's conclusions and proposed solution to the problem. This can be submitted to a discussion forum for other peer (group) feedback.

Integrating the Socratic Method to NGT

To integrate a Socaratic approach to NGT, students can be asked to use a set of guided questions with their second discussion post (Step 2 above) to help them evaluate ideas. The process of evaluation is one of the highest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy because it requires deep critical thinking to evaluate their own and other students’ arguments. This should be the longest and most challenging part of the discussion assignment.

The table below lists guided questions based on Socratic questioning (Source: Lintangsari, et al., 2022).

Sample NGT Discussion Prompt for Students Studying Ecology

Everyone wants to save the honeybees, but this is a more complex problem than people think. Consider what you have been learning about biodiversity, mono-cultures, natural ecosystems, interconnected ecosystems, resilience, and specialized pollination. What do you believe are the best practices to protect the honeybee populations in the US?

Socratic Questioning: After students post their initial ideas, they begin evaluating other students’ ideas using Socratic questioning. The figure below illustrates the second step of the discussion process.

Integrating the Socratic method into your online discussions can be an easy way to promote the kind of critical thinking that leads to deeper discussions. If you would like help designing online discussions or learning more about the discussion platforms available to LSA instructors, contact the Learning and Teaching Consultants today!

Additional Resources

Blake, K. A. (2018). Faculty members' perspectives - using the socratic method in the online higher education classroom to increase cognitive presence, critical thinking, and decision-making skills: Implications for the workplace (Order No. 13857647). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global; Publicly Available Content Database. (2210120591). Retrieved from https://proxy.lib.umich.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/faculty-members-perspectives-using-socratic/docview/2210120591/se-2

Miller, R. (2021). Using the Socratic method in your classroom. George Lucas Educational Foundation: Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/using-socratic-method-your-classroom/

References:

Lintangsari, Alies Poetri; Emaliana, Ive; Kusumawardani, Irene Nany. (2022). Improving learners’ critical thinking and learning engagement through Socratic questioning in Nominal Group Technique. Studies in English language and education. Universitas Syiah Kuala.