Through "Continuous Improvement"
 
 

Socratic Questioning - The key to effective learning

What is it?

Socrates was a philosopher and a teacher of Plato. He is credited with Socratic Questioning (SQ) as the name suggests. In its simplest form SQ is where rather than tell the person something to teach them, we ask the learner a question or questions to allow them to work it out for themselves.

Having gone through this thinking the information and learning is embedded through a reasoning thought process rather than just through memory.

Why?

My first reaction to this question is because it works better than a lecture based or presentation based delivery technique where learning is "given" by "telling" or merely following instructions and more often than not it is a combination of both.

One very effective way in which to understand this concept is thinking about a Sat Nav in a car. Think of how it works; it gives timely instructions and information as necessary and the driver reacts to the instructions and information accordingly. When the person using the Sat Nav arrives at their destination correctly and in time they are delighted but do they remember the route they just took? Would they remember it tomorrow and in days to come? If you have used a Sat Nav in this way I expect like over 99% of people you would say you could not remember the route, true?

The problem with delivering training in a presentational manner is that the information, understanding, and explanations are given, delivered using a presentational one way method rather than making the learners think and reason it through for themselves. Let's look at this a little closer.

Compare the two versions of the same teaching point and consider the differences.

of this next passage which is a typical transcript of the example I use when training and please just trust me that the answers are 99% as they appear below.

Think of two people who are traveling from London to North Wales in a car.

 

The "Sat Nav" - (Trainer Focused) Method

If 2 people were driving from London to North Wales and the passenger navigated by reading out the directions and telling them which direction and when to turn and which road to take and so on. The driver would be unlikely to remember the route as they had just been told the information.

However, if the passenger were to ask questions of the driver for example "looking at the options on the sign which option do you think we should take" the driver is more likely to remember that as they had to think and use their reasoning which in turn helps retention and recall.
 

The Socratic - (Learner Focused) Method

Q - If 2 people who were driving from London to North Wales in a car, which person would remember the route best, the passenger or the driver?

A - The driver. (99% of people answer the driver)

Q - I agree, but why?

A - The driver would be focusing on the route whereas a passenger would not be.

Q - When the driver sees a road sign with all those directions on it what do they do?

A - They read the sign and all the directions on it.

Q - Good, and having read all the information what do they then decide?

A - Which direction to take.

Q - Why did they choose that particular direction?

A - They had worked out which was most likely to be the right choice

Q - So, when delivering training, should we make the delegate become the passenger or the driver?

A - The driver

Q - How can we ensure we do this?

A - By using questions to make them think

 

What this is saying is that as the driver they had "reasoned" to arrive at their decision whereas had they just been told "take the next exit and the third turning at the roundabout" there would have been no reasoning just reaction to instruction. Trainers and more importantly business can not afford to let their trainers, super users, coaches, subject matter experts become the Sat Nav for the learner.

What are the benefits so far?

It makes people think; that factor alone is better than just letting people listen and try to remember. Those people who are taught with questions are more likely to remember the learning and become more focused on their topics.

Is that all there is to it?

I'll leave you to work out the answer to that and by all means call me to chat it through.

You now need to consider this...... do you need to change the way that those who transfer skills and knowledge within your organisation deliver their sessions/material. This thinking is equally applicable to IT/Systems trainers or Softer Skills trainers.