Socrates vs AI

31 Aug Socrates vs AI

Numerous studies show that students who use AI to write their papers retain almost nothing about the subject, once the paper is delivered. And when instructors set the ground rules to use AI only for research, they found that cheating was rampant. Clay Shirky, Vice Provost at NYU addressed this issue in a recent NY Times op-ed piece.

Educational institutions are now reaching back 2,500 years to the Socratic method, which employs face-to-face dialogue and questioning to nurture critical thinking. This leads to “authentic assessments” where students must present material without PowerPoint slides, cell phones or laptops.

In our workshops, we prompt attendees to ask questions and assess the material of the speaker, honing the presenter’s skills, as well as the critical acumen of the audience. This is also called “active learning,” which is a universe apart from lecturing. It harkens back to the ancient world, when skills like hunting, crafting, and farming were learned through active participation and apprenticeships.

Use this technique with your teams to engage them, create a stronger bond, and deeply embed the information presented. Did it work for Socrates? He taught Plato, who taught Aristotle, who greatly influenced the modern world in Rhetoric, Ethics and Physics.