Socratic Teaching Scaffolds

Socratic Teaching Scaffolds

Table of Contents

1. Workflow
2. Socratic Question Types
3. Scaffolding Levels
4. Common Patterns
5. Guardrails
6. Quick Reference

Core components:

1. Question Ladders: Sequences from simple to complex that build understanding incrementally
2. Misconception Detectors: Questions that reveal faulty mental models through contradiction
3. Feynman Explanations: Build-up from simple analogies to technical precision
4. Worked Examples with Fading: Full solutions → partial solutions → independent practice
5. Cognitive Apprenticeship: Model thinking process explicitly, then transfer to learner

Quick example (Teaching Recursion):

Question Ladder:

1. "Can you break this problem into a smaller version of itself?" (problem decomposition)
2. "What would happen if we had only one item?" (base case discovery)
3. "If we could solve the small version, how would we use it for the big version?" (recursive case)
4. "What prevents this from running forever?" (termination reasoning)