A Socratic seminar is an engaging and effective way to review course materials with students. In Poll Everywhere’s latest ebook, How to Host Effective Socratic Seminars in College, we took a deep dive into the history and current practice of this teaching tool. Socratic seminars allow professors to better facilitate class discussions while creating comfortable spaces for students to share ideas. Even introverted students can make their voices heard when professors incorporate digital tools to streamline the Socratic method.
Poll Everywhere is a handy tool for bringing Socratic seminars into the digital era. There are several ways to use our Activities to support discussions and create a fair platform for all your students. Here are six best practices for leading a Socratic seminar with the help of Poll Everywhere.
1. Start the Socratic seminar with a few multiple-choice questions
It’s tempting to dive into a discussion topic if you are passionate about the subject or eager to start the Socratic seminar; however, you must give your students a few minutes to warm up. Introducing a topic with a few multiple-choice Survey questions can help develop a greater understanding of what students know about a topic or how they feel about specific issues.
These rapid-fire questions can jog students' memories and provide a quick refresher on the material. The questions can also help students focus on the topic, creating a classroom transition away from the distractions of other coursework and campus life. The result is a better, more meaningful discussion once you open the floor to debate.
You can decide whether to share the poll questions' results with your class immediately or hold on to the data until the end. Waiting to share the results can build suspense in students eager to see the results.
2. Ask students to submit questions through the Q&A Activity
The Q&A Activity from Poll Everywhere is included in all higher education plans. It is also one of the most popular tools developed by Poll Everywhere for soliciting the opinions of students. Consider using the Q&A Activity to challenge students to ask questions about a topic you can discuss in class. You can review the student-submitted queries and choose the best ones to start your Socratic seminar. As the seminar continues, students can submit more questions and answers to make their opinions heard.
As the professor, you can moderate all questions and comments, preventing inappropriate or offensive posts from slipping through. Students can share ideas anonymously, but you can still see who posted them. If you have a troublemaker in the class, moderation allows you to stop their antics. The anonymous feature in Poll Everywhere’s Q&A Activity is also helpful for shy students who want to ask questions.
The Q&A Activity puts the Socratic seminar in the hands of students. They can upvote and downvote questions and guide the discussions. As the debate gets heated, you can step back as an educator and let your students defend their ideas. Your role becomes more of a guide, keeping everyone civil and on track until the material is completely covered.
3. Foster discussion and debate with open-ended questions
Socratic seminars are most effective when students work off open-ended questions. Discussion questions allow students to share opinions while bringing up facts and information, proving they know the material. Here are two questions, one of which provides a better opening query during a Socratic seminar:
- When did the Vietnam War start for the United States?
- Do you think the United States should have participated in the Vietnam War?
The second question invites students to defend their answers by highlighting the factors leading up to the war, who was involved, and what role the United States played. The opinions are backed by facts. As a professor, you can see which students studied the material and came prepared to discuss it in class. This creates a more engaging discussion than simply reviewing the facts of that particular history chapter.
Before starting your Socratic seminar, write a series of discussion questions or ask students to share their queries. You don’t have to stick to these questions, but they can be useful for getting your students to start talking.
4. Let students submit answers and reflections digitally
Socratic seminars are exciting for students who love speaking up. Extroverted and opinionated learners will enjoy taking a break from traditional lecture-based learning because they can share their thoughts with the class. However, some quieter students might feel nervous about participating. They have ideas and want to contribute to the discussion, but speaking over their peers with larger personalities can be hard.
Incorporating digital discussion tools is one way to create an equitable environment where everyone can feel heard. Poll Everywhere allows students to submit answers virtually and remain anonymous. Some of the best ideas might come from these digital comments.
You can also ask students to reflect on the Socratic seminar after the debate period has ended. Some students might have new insights or beliefs based on what was discussed. These reflections make excellent homework assignments because students can collect their thoughts later. During this time, they mentally review what was discussed, reinforcing the material and increasing the chances that they remember it come exam time.
5. Ask the same questions at the end to see if the answers have changed
Do you remember the multiple-choice questions you asked at the start of the class? You can use them again to wrap up the Socratic seminar and highlight how a healthy debate can change people's feelings.
Close the class discussion by asking students to complete the same Poll Everywhere Survey questions. You can also ask students additional questions to learn if their opinions changed or became more nuanced because of the Socratic seminar. Your students might be surprised to see how they grew over a single class period, whether they learned new material or developed more profound opinions about specific topics.
These surveys are also fun if you teach the same subject to multiple classes or share the same survey each semester. You can see how students' opinions change from one class to the next – and learn which classes have the most opinionated students.
6. Survey students to see how the Socratic seminar can improve
Speaking of surveys, you can use Poll Everywhere to solicit feedback from students on how well the Socratic seminar went. Students can share their thoughts anonymously or publicly and offer advice on what could be done differently. Don't worry about being perfect if this is your first time leading a Socratic seminar. There is always room to grow.
Here are a few question prompts you can use to collect feedback on your Socratic seminar:
- Do you feel you had a fair chance to share your opinions with the class?
- Did you feel safe sharing an unpopular opinion or contradicting your peers?
- Was there a fair balance between in-person and digital debate?
- Do you think introverted students could share their opinions as effectively as extroverted ones?
- How would you change the Socratic seminar to make it more effective?
Some students could share brilliant ideas to elevate your Socratic seminar and create a fairer space for everyone involved. Others could point out problems you might not have noticed, allowing you to make corrections for a smoother Socratic seminar next time.
Your Socratic seminar is more accessible with Poll Everywhere
Poll Everywhere has the perfect tools to develop an engaging Socratic seminar. Students can submit discussion questions beforehand, answer preliminary multiple-choice questions about what they know, share ideas digitally during the debate, and have space to reflect when everything is over. These tools can help any students participate and review the discussion materials later.
If you want to debut a Socratic seminar for your class, sign up for Poll Everywhere today. Use a software tool designed for the higher education classroom to create better experiences for you and your students.
