Socratic questioning has been gaining attention and currency in recent years especially in teaching and learning. It usually focuses on fundamental concepts, principles, theories, issues or problems, and has great impact on our thinking and teaching and learning. The article “The Role of Socratic Questioning in Thinking, Teaching, and Learning” analyses the importance of asking powerful question in our teaching and learning from different aspects in great depth. I am especially impressed by and resonate with the following parts:
“In fact, every intellectual field is born out of a cluster of questions to which answers are either needed or highly desirable. Furthermore, every field stays alive only to the extent that fresh questions are generated and taken seriously as the driving force in a process of thinking. To think through or rethink anything, one must ask questions that stimulate thought.”
“Answers on the other hand, often signal a full stop in thought. Only when an answer generates a further question does thought continue its life as such.”
“If we want to engage students in thinking through our content we must stimulate their thinking with questions that lead them to further questions.”