Socratic Seminar
The Paideia Proposal envisioned a holistic model of education that was not only aimed at building knowledge, but also celebrating and encouraging humanity. Adler's third instructional mode, then, aimed to "engage[s] the mind in the study of individual works of merit, whether literary or otherwise, accompanied by a discussion of the ideas, the values, and the forms embodied in such products of human art." He called this instructional approach Socratic.
Here is what he envisioned this mode looking like:
"The appropriate mode of instruction in Column Three is neither didactic nor coaching. It cannot be teaching by telling and by using textbooks. It cannot consist in supervising activities involved in acquiring skills. I must be the Socratic mode of teaching, a mode of teaching called maieutic because it helps the student bring ideas to birth. It is teaching by asking questions, by leading discussions, by helping students to raise their minds up from a state of understanding or appreciating less to a state of understanding or appreciating more. The interrogative or discussion method of teaching to be employed in Column Three stimulates the imagination and intellect by awakening the creative and inquisitive powers. In no other way can children's understanding of what they know be improved, and their appreciation of cultural objects be enhanced."
Mortimer Adler, The Paideia Proposal, (1982, pgs. 28 & 29).
Another way to conceive this Socratic teaching is to think of it as dialetic teaching. Using the language of classical educators;
"Perhaps the easiest way to think of Dialectic or Socratic Method is to think of it as the relentless pursuit of truth through unceasing questions. To engage in dialectic method, establish your goal to clearly understand truth and get on with it.
Once you’ve grown comfortable with questioning your students, you will want to refine your understanding of dialectic instruction. Socrates’ questioning usually fell into two stages called the ironic and the maieutic.
In the ironic stage, you use questions to probe your student’s understanding – to find the inadequacies in his thoughts. These inadequacies might include contradictions, insufficient definitions of terms, faulty logic (especially things like hasty generalizations and reversal of cause and effect), and other common mistakes that we all make all too frequently. The purpose of the ironic stage is to weaken the individual’s confidence in an inadequate understanding of reality.
After the student recognizes the inadequacy of his original idea and wants a clearer apprehension of the truth, he is ready for the maieutic stage. In this second stage you will make more suggestions than you did in the ironic stage, but questions still drive your student. In the end, the student and the teacher both better understand an idea. The purpose of the maieutic stage is to give birth (maieutic is Greek for having to do with a midwife) to this more accurate understanding of reality."
(Memoria Press, 2003; https://www.memoriapress.com/articles/two-methods-instruction/)
Here is what he envisioned this mode looking like:
"The appropriate mode of instruction in Column Three is neither didactic nor coaching. It cannot be teaching by telling and by using textbooks. It cannot consist in supervising activities involved in acquiring skills. I must be the Socratic mode of teaching, a mode of teaching called maieutic because it helps the student bring ideas to birth. It is teaching by asking questions, by leading discussions, by helping students to raise their minds up from a state of understanding or appreciating less to a state of understanding or appreciating more. The interrogative or discussion method of teaching to be employed in Column Three stimulates the imagination and intellect by awakening the creative and inquisitive powers. In no other way can children's understanding of what they know be improved, and their appreciation of cultural objects be enhanced."
Mortimer Adler, The Paideia Proposal, (1982, pgs. 28 & 29).
Another way to conceive this Socratic teaching is to think of it as dialetic teaching. Using the language of classical educators;
"Perhaps the easiest way to think of Dialectic or Socratic Method is to think of it as the relentless pursuit of truth through unceasing questions. To engage in dialectic method, establish your goal to clearly understand truth and get on with it.
Once you’ve grown comfortable with questioning your students, you will want to refine your understanding of dialectic instruction. Socrates’ questioning usually fell into two stages called the ironic and the maieutic.
In the ironic stage, you use questions to probe your student’s understanding – to find the inadequacies in his thoughts. These inadequacies might include contradictions, insufficient definitions of terms, faulty logic (especially things like hasty generalizations and reversal of cause and effect), and other common mistakes that we all make all too frequently. The purpose of the ironic stage is to weaken the individual’s confidence in an inadequate understanding of reality.
After the student recognizes the inadequacy of his original idea and wants a clearer apprehension of the truth, he is ready for the maieutic stage. In this second stage you will make more suggestions than you did in the ironic stage, but questions still drive your student. In the end, the student and the teacher both better understand an idea. The purpose of the maieutic stage is to give birth (maieutic is Greek for having to do with a midwife) to this more accurate understanding of reality."
(Memoria Press, 2003; https://www.memoriapress.com/articles/two-methods-instruction/)
Explanation of Socratic Seminar
Here is an explanation of the Socratic Seminar with multiple snippets of seminars in action.
Example of a Socratic Seminar
This video share bits of a seminar on Confederate monuments that was structured to meet the needs of a diverse range of learners.