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n NGSS classroom is all about students learning how to work with ideas, both their own ideas and the ideas of others.
This performance standard comes from the three-dimensional nature of the new science standards, which integrate science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts to help students achieve mastery through student-led inquiry and hands-on investigation and prototyping
It can be challenging at first to understand how the three dimensions can be combined, working simultaneously within each lesson. But they are each a key component of the NGSS performance standards. One way to combine them effectively is through Socratic dialogue, which provides an opportunity for students to step into a real-world context and engage with a phenomenon to make sense of it.
That's how phenomena start to drive teaching and learning. When we give students the opportunity to step into that real-world context, they are engaged in asking questions that matter to them. Within the NGSS, it’s important that students work with their own ideas. Socratic dialogue is a tool to help them learn how to refine their ideas, connect what they are learning in class to their own knowledge and experiences, and ask and answer questions for themselves.
Socratic dialogue also highlights how much we can learn from diverse ideas and experiences of peers, an important career and life skill.
The Importance of Socratic Dialogue in a Next Gen Classroom
Socratic dialogue provides NGSS classrooms with an active way to empower our students to develop their own understanding of real-world phenomena by working with their own ideas and the ideas of their peers. Rather than passive participants in the science classroom, these students are asking and answering questions that matter to them, thinking creatively, and re-evaluating their understanding as they gather new information.
Implementing Socratic dialogue in the classroom engages students in numerous science and engineering practices, including:
- Asking questions
- Analyzing and interpreting data
- Constructing explanations
- Engaging in argument for evidence
- Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
When students participate in group discussions in class, they are required to make their thinking visible to their peers and to their teacher. As they respond to follow-up questions, they are learning how to defend their arguments with reasoning and evidence. In real time, these students are receiving valuable feedback that they can incorporate into their growing understanding of core concepts. The environment for authentic socratic dialogue also allows students to practice science and engineering practices and develop the dispositions of a scientist and engineer.
Socratic Dialogue, Collaboration, and Hands-on Discovery
Socratic dialogue also exposes the gaps in students' thinking and understanding,helping them to refine their questions. As a tool to launch students into hands-on discovery, it supports their development of good questions to ask and problems to investigate. Together, the class is working to refine their ideas and improve their questions. They are connecting new ideas to knowledge they already have and extending their own personal experiences to develop a new understanding of disciplinary core ideas.
Socratic Dialogue and Student-led Investigations
Some of the questions students have about the real-world phenomenon they encounter can actually be tested in the classroom. When these science and engineering investigations are student led – meaning they are designed as a direct result of the students’ thinking – the students have much more invested in the process and in the results
That’s another benefit to implementing Socratic dialogue. When students are active participants in designing their own investigations and know they have to come back and explain their conclusions to the class – they are more invested in building a strong understanding of the concept and in designing a model or investigation that helps answer their question.
This is important because the definition of effective STEM instruction, according to the National Research Council, is that it “capitalizes on students' early interest and experiences, it identifies and builds on what they know, and provides them with the experiences to engage them in the practices of science and sustain their interest.”
As students plan their investigations based on their own questions, they will gather firsthand data from real phenomena. They will analyze and interpret that data and use it as part of constructing explanations and arguing from evidence. As they practice these critical thinking skills and learn to think deeper about the real-world phenomena that surround them, these students are working to achieve mastery of core science concepts.
Socratic Dialogue to Connect Core Concepts
We can also use Socratic dialogue to bring students back together to present and defend their findings, and to think deeper about what they’ve learned. During this class discussion, students have another important opportunity to refine their knowledge based on the ideas of their peers. As teachers, we can also challenge them to connect what they’ve learned to what they already know and continue to build a better understanding of core science concepts.
An authentic Socratic dialogue leaves students with questions. Some of their questions will have been answered and others will have been refined. However, they will still have some unanswered questions, which may even propel us on to the next student-led investigation. Socratic dialogue therefore serves as a springboard into the work of scientists and engineers, who are developing answers to questions and solutions to problems through experimentation and prototyping.
