Scaffolding the Skill of Participating in Socratic Dialogue
This post is a bit of a departure from my usual subjects (learning outcomes, assessment, and assessment reporting), but I believe it is particularly apt as thousands of students across the country are beginning their first weeks of law school. And in truth, this topic is arguably related to learning outcomes and assessment work because the ability to participate in Socratic dialogue 1 is something most professors expect of their students (even if this skill is not often stated explicitly as a learning outcome). Further, scaffolding is a critical component in guiding students to mastery of this and other competencies.
We Generally Don’t Teach Students How to Engage in Socratic Dialogue
The majority of law professors expect their students to be able to participate in Socratic dialogue, also known as cold calling. But where do we teach this skill? The short answer is that we generally don’t. Instead, we throw students into the deep end and expect them to figure out how to swim. Indeed, right now Reddit and other forums where law students commiserate are filled with posts from 1Ls about the fear of being cold-called, confusion about what is expected of them, and a sense of failure in not performing well.
Let me be clear — law students can do hard things and should be expected to do hard things! But they need guidance along the way — in other words, scaffolding. Eventually they will be able to answer complex questions on their feet, but they need a roadmap to get there.
What Is Scaffolding, and What Does It Look Like in This Context?
The concept of scaffolding is simple. Whatever skill the professor is teaching, they break it down into small steps, provide support initially, then remove these supports over time. Another simple way of thinking about scaffolding is the “me-we-you” framework. First, the professor demonstrates the skill. Then the professor practices the skill alongside the students. Then they have the students practice the skill on their own.
What does this look in the context of Socratic dialogue? First, the professor poses a question of the type they would typically use in Socratic dialogue. Then the professor models how students might answer the question, explaining how they reached that answer. (E.g., “I determined which facts were relevant by looking at the facts the court relied on in the reasoning section of its opinion.”)
The next step is to pose an additional question, have students take a moment to jot down a few words or phrases they might use in their answer, or debate the answer with the student sitting next to them, and then discuss the answers as a group.
Continuing the scaffolding process, the professor poses the question to the entire class, gives them a minute or so to jot down their ideas, and then chooses one student to call on.
At that point, students are better prepared to deal with the traditional cold-calling technique.
You might object that this eats up precious class time. But based on my experience working one-on-one with hundreds of students over the years, it’s clear to me that learning how to learn (i.e., metacognition) is more critical than coverage of 100% of all possible topics in a course.
There is a lot of pride in the tradition of Socratic dialogue. We stress the need for lawyers to be able to think on their feet in high-pressure situations. But if we want our students to master this skill, we don’t start at the end. We start at the beginning and give them guideposts along the way.
Ultimately, scaffolding is better for students, better for their learning, and better for the professor who will have more productive dialogue in class.
As always, I am available to help law schools with issues related to pedagogy, learning outcomes, formative assessment, and program assessments. Feel free to email me at spollvogt@LSAC.org.
[1] For those unfamiliar with the practice, Socratic dialogue, also referred to as the Socratic Method or cold-calling, involves the professor selecting a student and asking them a series of questions about a case. There may be several goals behind this approach: to incentivize students to complete their reading to prepare for being called on. The practice is discussed at more length on the American Bar Association's website.
