PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING AND THE SOCRATIC DIALOGUE AS METHODS OF DEVELOPING STUDENTS’ LOGICAL THINKING: UNLOCKING THOUGHT THROUGH QUESTIONS

Abstract

By logical thinking we mean not merely the ability to find the correct answer, but the ability to analyse any problem in a consecutive, substantiated and coherent manner. This ability is not innate — it can be cultivated, and the process of cultivating it requires a special methodology. Extensive research has been conducted in this field within pedagogy and psychology over the course of centuries, and its findings are widely applied in contemporary educational practice. In the present article we examine separately each of the four principal methods aimed at developing students’ logical thinking: “problem-based learning”, “the Socratic dialogue method”, “teaching through mind maps and conceptual structures”, and “the development of critical analysis and argumentation skills”.