Prealgebra for Two-Year Colleges/To the instructor/Socratic method

The suggested method of using this workbook is the Socratic method. In a typical class setting, the professor asks a question and calls on a student who may or may not have volunteered an answer. The professor either then continues to ask the student questions or moves on to another student.

The employment of the Socratic method has some uniform features but can also be heavily influenced by the temperament of the teacher. The method begins by calling on a student at random, and asking about how to begin to solve a problem. The first step is to ask the student to paraphrase the problem, in order to ensure that the student has read and has a basic understanding problem.

One hallmark of Socratic questioning is that typically there is more than one "correct" answer. The primary goal of the Socratic method is for students to understand their reasoning in solving a problem, as opposed to memorizing a procedure without understanding why it works.