Whereas lectures seek to transfer knowledge from teacher to student passively, student-centered
learning employs interactive activities that allow learners to address their own learning interests
and needs.^4 According to these theories, student needs consist of developing the“twenty-first
century skills”desired by future employers.^5 The key to developing these skills is to require
students to focus on projects having real-world implications.^6 As shown in the next section,
differences regarding the question of what constitutes student needs distinguishes Socratic from
contemporary student-centered learning.
To provide students with these skills, the classroom must be transformed into a dynamic
learning environment where students can clearly see the connection(s) between what they learn
and their personal experiences. The keys to transforming the classroom can be identified by
looking at the four core values of student-centered learning.^7 First, learners define their own
meaning. Unlike the traditional classroom where meaning is externally defined, the first value of
student-centered learning places the responsibility for constructing meaning on the student.^8
Working with the instructor to set goals and objectives, learners ultimately determine how to
proceed on a project that focuses on a single topic based on an assessment of their individual
needs and questions.
Second, the focus on a single, iterative project requires scaffolding: the process of managing
inquiry through structures and guidance that are embedded in the learning environment.^9 Student-
centered learning’s reliance on working on a single, open-ended question requires the learning
environment to bridge the gap between learners who are newcomers to a topic and the expertise of
the practitioner. Scaffolding connects learning to the kinds of problems and practices that many
learners will encounter in the real world.^10 Failure to connect learning with the experiences of
learners is thought to undermine the learning process more generally.^11
Third, because personal experiences serve as the conceptual references bywhich new knowledge
is organized and assimilated, there must be a clear connection between what one learns and one’s
personal experiences. It is necessary to situate new information in these environments if learners are
to know how to apply concepts and why they are useful.
Finally, having access to multiple perspectives, resources, and representations enhances
learning. Exposing learners to varied methodsand perspectives is critical to developing
deeper, divergent, and more flexible thinking processes. Together, these core values provide
an understanding of the educated individual produced by student-centered learning. The
educated individual is a self-guided learner who has the ability to see a project through from
conception to completion. This person is able to apply her knowledge to real-world contexts
by drawing on personal experience, and is a flexible thinker capable of viewing things from
a variety of perspectives. Cumulatively, this person possesses the skills most sought after in
the real world.
The Socratic Method as Student-Centered Learning
The Socratic method contains three constituent parts. First, the subject matter of Socratic philos-
ophy is virtue: Socrates and his interlocutors are in agreement that virtue is the proper object of
education and inquiry.^12 Second, the Socratic method proceedsviathe process ofelenchus, which
can be understood as meaning to examine, refute, or put to shame.^13 In having one’s understanding
examined and possibly refuted,elenticquestioning facilitates discovery:“the soul must free itself of
the anger, arrogance, and laziness present in so many of Socrates’companions.”^14 The refutation of
Socratic inquiry is central not only to philosophical inquiry into virtue, but to the respondent’s own
life.Finally, Socratic texts are written in the dialog form. This emphasizes the dialectic quality of the
Socratic method which transforms the reader from a passive into an active participant. Each of these
aspects is dealt with in greater detail below.
The Courage of the Socratic Method 95