Problem-based learning in the age of generative AI: A structured blueprint for medical curricula.

This study examined the effectiveness of integrating the Socratic dialogue method into a graduate-level nursing ethics course to enhance students' ethical reasoning and reflective learning. A mixed-methods design was employed, including pre- and postcourse critical thinking assessments and qualitative analysis of students' reflective discussions. Quantitative findings indicated significant improvement in critical thinking disposition. Qualitative data revealed deeper moral reasoning, collaborative inquiry, and increased confidence in ethical decision-making. The Socratic dialogue method fostered reflective engagement and critical discourse, supporting its use as an evidence-based teaching strategy in nursing ethics education. Nurse educators can adopt this approach to cultivate reflective practitioners capable of moral reasoning in complex clinical contexts.

The next prompt engineering method we are going to evaluate could be considered a form of the Socratic Method. The flipped interactive prompting method asks the artificial intelligence model to ask clarifying questions in response to a prompt, thereby refining and deepening the analytical quality of an answer. This method can be especially useful in litigation or when an issue is controversial or subject to multiple interpretations. After exploring prompt engineering, we will then turn to perspective switching. Perspective switching allows the artificial intelligence model to switch between different viewpoints or roles. For instance, the model might start by acting as plaintiff’s counsel, then switch to analyze its own arguments from the perspective of defendant’s counsel or a judge. Lastly, we’ll discuss options for tying all of the techniques together to maximize interactions with artificial intelligence.

ABSTRACT Social work education often requires grappling with complex and controversial issues, necessitating a pedagogical approach that fosters critical thinking and intellectual diversity. The Point–Counterpoint teaching methodology is a framework designed to move beyond the traditional education model as agreement toward a model of education as understanding. By emphasizing intellectual diversity, this approach equips students with the tools to engage critically with diverse perspectives, challenge their biases, and develop a nuanced understanding of social issues. Drawing from philosophical and pedagogical principles, including the Socratic method and constructivism, the Point–Counterpoint framework addresses the challenges of confirmation bias in academia, offering practical recommendations for teaching controversial topics that promote critical thinking, inclusivity, and mutual respect. This methodology builds on established teaching strategies by integrating structured debate and collaborative knowledge construction to enhance student engagement and prepare them for real-world practice.

Simulation facilitators routinely invoke the 'Socratic method' when describing their questioning approach, yet this invocation often lacks philosophical grounding and practical specificity. Whilst Socratic questioning features prominently in debriefing standards, its application has become what scholars describe as "extraordinarily vague", with conflicting interpretations proliferating across the literature. Facilitators need clear guidance for important decisions: when to challenge versus support, when to profess ignorance versus share expertise, when to create discomfort versus maintain psychological safety. This article returns to Plato's dialogues to construct a contemporary pedagogical framework through close textual analysis. We developed five distinct facilitation orientations drawn from specific passages in the original texts: the Gadfly (challenging assumptions through persistent questioning), the Professed Ignorant (modelling intellectual humility), the Midwife (facilitating emergence of tacit knowledge), the Stingray (inducing productive cognitive dissonance), and the Co-inquirer (fostering collaborative discovery). These orientations function as philosophical stances rather than algorithmic techniques, providing meta-level guidance that complements existing debriefing frameworks. Each orientation addresses different aspects of productive uncertainty, the deliberate cultivation of intellectual discomfort as a catalyst for deeper thinking. When facilitators position themselves as fellow learners, debriefing can shift from teaching learners what to think towards teaching them how to think. Engagement with Socratic principles expands facilitators' repertoires for creating meaningful learning conversations. These orientations offer simulation educators a philosophically grounded alternative to vague appeals to 'being Socratic'. They emerge from interpretive choices calibrated specifically to healthcare simulation contexts rather than claims of historical authenticity.

An innovative Socratic method-based artificial intelligence platform for healthcare education: A quasi-experimental study.

This qualitative research investigates transcultural teacher development through Comparative Ethnographic Narrative (CEN), a methodological approach combining reflexive ethnography and narrative inquiry. As educational landscapes become increasingly diverse and more internationally trained teachers enter Canada, understanding teacher acculturation has become critical. CEN is used to analyze the lived experiences of three international graduate students from India, Argentina, and Mexico enrolled in a Master of Education (MEd) program at a mid-sized western Canadian university. The study was conducted over a period of 21 months, included recording micro-teaching sessions at the start of participants’ study, focus group discussions where participants collaboratively analyzed their teaching practices, and extended teacher-to-teacher conversations . Follow-up interviews conducted 1 year post-graduation allowed participants to reflect on their personal and professional transformations. International graduate research assistants, who were the participants’ peers, facilitated data collection, creating authentic dialogue rooted in shared experiences. Key findings reveal that transcultural teacher development and acculturation involves dynamic identity negotiation processes extending beyond simple cultural adaptation. The three participants demonstrated remarkable capacity for synthesizing their cultural pedagogical traditions with Canadian perspectives on curriculum, teaching and learning that engender innovative educational approaches. Olena transformed from entertainment-focused teaching to trauma-informed practice, Matias integrated Socratic methods with Canadian collaborative frameworks, and Greeshma evolved from standardized didactic teaching to culturally responsive pedagogies. The study challenges deficit-oriented perspectives of internationally trained teachers by exhibiting how they can actively contribute to pedagogical innovation rather than merely adapting to existing systems. Participants’ experiences exemplify that transcultural teacher development opens new educational possibilities benefiting all learners, supporting calls for decolonizing teacher education, and recognizing diversity as a pedagogical resource. Consequently, these findings inform more inclusive approaches to supporting international educators.

Artificial Intelligence integration with mobile instant messaging (MIM) offers promising support for blended learning discussions, yet current implementations often favor immediacy over pedagogical structure. Despite separate studies on Socratic methods, ChatGPT applications, and MIM platforms, their systematic integration remains unexplored. This study introduces SCMIM (Socratic-based ChatGPT Mobile Instant Messaging) and compares its impact with standard ChatGPT-MIM and traditional MIM through a 12-week randomized trial with 72 master’s students. Using mixed-methods analysis of engagement questionnaires, discussion logs, and interviews, we examined behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement alongside technology acceptance perceptions. Results showed ChatGPT-MIM enhanced behavioral participation and emotional comfort through immediate support, while SCMIM more effectively fostered cognitive engagement, particularly analytical thinking and knowledge construction. Despite initial adaptation challenges, SCMIM users developed appreciation for systematic questioning, reporting high perceived usefulness and comparable intention to use. These findings demonstrate that effective AI integration requires balancing immediate support with structured pedagogical guidance to promote both engagement and deeper learning outcomes in educational discussions.

ABSTRACT Background The integration of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools like GPT into programming education offers transformative potential through personalised guidance and instant feedback, yet risks fostering overreliance and superficial learning due to their tendency to deliver direct, context‐free answers. Objectives This quasi‐experimental study addresses this gap by proposing a Socratic questioning framework to optimise GAI‐facilitated programming instruction, emphasising critical thinking over passive solution retrieval. Methods We compared two pedagogical approaches: GAI‐Scaffolded Learning (GSL), where GPT employs structured Socratic dialogue to guide problem‐solving and GAI‐Direct Learning (GDL), which provides immediate answers without guided inquiry. This research collected learners' programming behaviours, interactions data with GPT from screen recordings and platform log data and perceptions data. This research further utilised multiple learning analytics approaches (i.e., click stream analysis, lag‐sequential analysis, epistemic network analysis [ENA] and statistics) to compare learners' programming behaviours, interaction patterns and perceptions under two approaches. Results and Conclusions Through an analysis of 80 college students' programming behaviours, interaction qualities and perceptions, we found some intriguing results. First, GSL engaged in cyclical, reflective practices (debugging, Socratic questioning, console use), while GDL prioritised rapid fixes via trial‐and‐error with GPT code, risking superficial mimicry and over‐reliance on external resources. Second, ENA highlighted GSL's deeper engagement through interconnected feedback, emotional support and iterative inquiry, reducing frustration and sustaining persistence and GDL interactions focused on surface‐level queries, lacking scaffolding for emotional/heuristic integration. Third, GSL maintained positive attitudes due to structured prompts aligning expectations and easing cognitive load. GDL attitudes declined from mismatched expectations and frustration. Implications Based on these findings, the study proposes pedagogical and developmental implications for future design and development of AI‐augmented curricula, providing actionable insights for educators seeking to harness GAI's potential while nurturing critical thinking in programming education.

The high maternal mortality rate associated with frequent childbirth remains a significant public health issue, partly due to limited knowledge among couples of reproductive age about long-term contraception. The 2024 Indonesian Demographic and Health Survey reported that only 24.6% of respondents used long-term contraceptive methods. Low uptake is often linked to insufficient understanding and persistent myths in the community, indicating the need for interactive educational approaches. Objective: This study aims to analyze the effect of the Socratic method delivered through leaflets on improving the knowledge of couples of reproductive age in selecting Long-Term Contraceptive Methods (LTCM) at the Pematang Cengal Community Health Center. Methodology: The study employed a quantitative approach with a quasi-experimental one-group pre-test–post-test design. The population consisted of all couples of reproductive age within the health center’s service area, with 120 respondents selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected by measuring knowledge levels before and after the educational intervention and analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. Findings: The results showed a statistically significant increase in the average knowledge scores after the Socratic-based education with leaflets (p-value < 0.05). Prior to the intervention, most respondents were categorized as having poor knowledge; afterward, the majority shifted to the good knowledge category. Implications: These findings suggest that interactive education using the Socratic method combined with leaflet media can serve as an effective strategy in primary healthcare settings to correct misconceptions, enhance understanding, and support informed decision-making regarding long-term contraception. Originality/Value: The originality of this study lies in the application of the Socratic method in LTCM education at the primary healthcare level, integrated with leaflet support, which promotes critical thinking about the effectiveness and safety of long-term contraception compared to conventional one-way education.

The research is designed as a qualitative-analytical case study, employing the Socratic method as an analytical tool to probe reasoning consistency, contradiction recognition, and conceptual stability. Three AI systems: ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot, were examined while analyzing a non-standard equilibrium problem involving a pen attached to a vertical wall. The findings indicate that, although the AIs correctly articulate isolated physics concepts, they struggle to integrate these concepts coherently in unfamiliar contexts, exhibiting contradictions, diagrammatic inconsistencies, and an inability to revise reasoning when challenged. These results demonstrate that the principal limitation of current AI systems lies not merely in language generation, but in conceptual reasoning and meaning construction in physics. The study highlights important implications for physics education, emphasizing the need for critical mediation by educators and caution against treating AI-generated explanations as epistemically authoritative.

Students in Ethiopian secondary schools frequently encounter persistent difficulties in understanding complex chemistry concepts such as chemical kinetics, largely due to the prevalence of teacher-centered, lecture-based instructional approaches. This study examined the effectiveness of Socratic questioning as a pedagogical strategy to enhance Grade 11 students’ conceptual understanding of chemical kinetics in non-governmental secondary schools in Addis Ababa. Anchored in a constructivist epistemology and employing a pragmatic, mixed-methods design, the research integrated quantitative quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test control group design with qualitative interviews and classroom observations. Quantitative data from 100 students (50 in the experimental group and 50 in the control group) were analyzed using ANOVA and ANCOVA. While the pre-test scores showed a modest but statistically significant difference favoring the experimental group, ANCOVA results revealed a substantial post-test performance advantage for students taught through Socratic questioning ( M = 78.6, SD = 6.34) over those in the control group ( M = 52.3, SD = 5.46), F (1, 97) = 489.12, p < 0.001, with a large effect size ( η 2 = 0.83). This indicates that Socratic questioning accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in post-test outcomes, confirming its powerful impact on students’ conceptual learning. Qualitative findings from semi-structured interviews with 12 purposively selected students and classroom observations supported the quantitative results. Four core themes emerged: (1) enhanced understanding of chemical kinetics, where students described a shift from rote memorization to active conceptual reasoning; (2) increased engagement and participation, with classrooms becoming interactive, inclusive, and dialogic; (3) improvement in critical thinking skills, as students demonstrated deeper analysis, reasoning, and problem-solving abilities; and (4) empowerment and confidence, with students reporting greater academic self-efficacy, reduced fear of failure, and increased willingness to engage in learning activities. While the study demonstrates clear instructional benefits within the specific context of a four-week unit in a limited sample, its findings offer important insights into how dialogic, inquiry-driven instruction can address persistent pedagogical challenges in Ethiopian science education. It recommends integrating this approach into secondary school science classrooms while encouraging further research across varied educational settings, subjects, and longer intervention periods to explore its broader applicability and sustained impact.

The proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education presents both transformative opportunities and significant challenges, particularly concerning the development of students' critical thinking skills. This study investigated the efficacy of an AI-driven Socratic dialogue partner as a pedagogical intervention to enhance these essential higher-order cognitive abilities. The Socratic method, a venerable technique for fostering critical inquiry, was operationalized within an AI system designed to engage students in reflective dialogue. A quasi-experimental, pre-test/post-test control group design was employed with undergraduate students. Critical thinking skills were assessed using a standardized instrument, the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST). Hypothetical findings indicate that students who interacted with the AI Socratic dialogue partner (experimental group) demonstrated statistically significant improvements in their overall critical thinking scores and specific sub-skills compared to students in the control group who received traditional instruction. Qualitative data from student feedback surveys suggested that the AI partner was perceived as an engaging tool that prompted deeper reflection and self-correction. These results underscore the potential of thoughtfully designed AI systems to support and cultivate critical thinking. The implications of these findings extend to educational practice, suggesting novel ways to integrate AI into learning environments, and to AI development, highlighting the importance of pedagogically grounded design for educational tools.

Irena Szumilewicz-Lachman se dedicó a la filosofía de la ciencia, la filosofía de la naturaleza, la metodología de las ciencias naturales y la historia de la ciencia. Investigó el convencionalismo, principalmente basándose en los logros de Henri Poincaré. Sus comentarios y análisis sobre la naturaleza del tiempo, y más ampliamente sobre la filosofía de la cosmología, fueron originales e innovadores, ya que se centraron en la direccionalidad del paso del tiempo. Para ello, Szumilewicz-Lachman destacó el papel que desempeñaban la belleza y la verdad, así como el buen sentido en el método socrático, en la contemplación del tiempo en sí mismo. En otras palabras, todo trabajo e investigación científica se fundamenta en una responsabilidad moral y estética, pues la belleza y la verdad son el fundamento de toda existencia.

This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of the use of the Socratic Method in improving Critical Thinking Skills. The Socratic Method, which focuses on in-depth and collaborative dialogic interactions between teachers and students, motivates students to be active in exploring, testing beliefs, and critically analyzing information. Various studies have shown that the application of this method, especially in mathematics education at the junior and senior high school levels, can significantly improve students' Critical Thinking Skills compared to traditional teaching methods. Findings from the study at SMPN showed that more than 75% of students were actively and effectively involved in the learning process, with a consistent increase in critical thinking scores in the aspects of clarification, investigation of assumptions, reasons, evidence, and reflection. The Socratic Method has also proven successful in improving students' ability to make decisions based on independent analysis and logical arguments, making it very relevant to be implemented in today's educational context that requires the development of high-level thinking skills. Other studies have also shown that the Socratic Dialogue approach has a significant success rate in improving students' Critical Thinking Skills. Thus, this approach is highly recommended for adoption in the educational process.

Abstract As large language models (LLMs) become central tools in science, improving their reasoning capabilities is critical for meaningful and trustworthy applications. We introduce a Socratic agent for scientific reasoning, implemented through a structured system prompt that guides LLMs via classical principles of inquiry. Unlike typical prompt engineering or retrieval-based methods, our approach leverages definition, analogy, hypothesis elimination, and other Socratic techniques to generate more coherent, critical, and domain-aware responses. We evaluate the agent across diverse scientific domains and benchmark it on the abstraction and reasoning corpus challenge dataset, achieving 97.15% under a fixed prompting protocol and without fine-tuning or external tools. Expert evaluation shows improved reasoning depth, clarity, and adaptability over conventional LLM outputs, suggesting that structured prompting rooted in philosophical reasoning can improve the scientific utility of language models.

This article critically examines the environmental content and the rhetorical devices used in PragerU videos produced since its creation in 2009 until 2024. PragerU, a U.S.-based conservative online platform, is known for disseminating information on political, economic, social, and environmental topics to both adult and K-12 audiences. Drawing on a sample of 41 environmental videos, we use Critical Discourse Analysis to identify 10 recurring misinformation indicators. By applying Gramsci’s concept of hegemony and Althusser’s notion of ideology, this study delves into the specific rhetorical devices employed by PragerU to promote misinformation. By shedding light on how PragerU videos shape public perception of environmental issues, this research contributes to our understanding of the intersection between conservative ideology and environmental discourse. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for fostering an informed public debate and promoting accurate information on pressing environmental challenges. As a countermeasure, the article proposes Freire’s critical pedagogy and the Socratic method as an alternative pedagogical framework, illustrating how educators can equip students to critically evaluate environmental information.

Background: Critical thinking is increasingly acknowledged as an essential skill for students in the 21st century. Consequently, pedagogical approaches that foster critical thinking are of considerable scholarly interest. Philosophical inquiry, particularly outside the domain of religious education, has been identified as a potential method for cultivating these skills. Objective: This scoping review systematically maps the extant literature concerning the application of philosophical methods and interventions to foster critical thinking skills in students, specifically excluding implementations within religious education. The review investigates the types of interventions employed, the populations studied, the outcomes assessed, and the reported efficacy of these approaches. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted using the Scopus and Web of Science databases, encompassing publications from January 1 2014, to December 31 2024. Inclusion criteria stated that studies examine the use of philosophical methods (e.g. Socratic questioning, communities of inquiry, Philosophy for Children) to enhance critical thinking in students at any educational level, outside of religious instruction. Extracted data included study characteristics, participant demographics, intervention specifics, outcome measures, and principal findings. A narrative synthesis was conducted. Results: Thirty-three studies satisfied the inclusion criteria. These studies represented a broad spectrum of educational levels, from preschool through to higher education, and diverse geographical regions across Asia, Europe, North America, and Africa. Interventions varied in duration and specific philosophical approach but frequently involved methodologies such as Philosophy for Children (P4C), Socratic methods, and facilitated community of inquiry discussions, often integrated into various curricula. The majority of studies reported positive impacts on various facets of critical thinking, including reasoning abilities, argumentation, communication, and metacognitive awareness, alongside notable effects on non-cognitive skills and evidence of skill transfer across different contexts. Conclusion: The accumulated evidence indicates that philosophical inquiry can be a valuable pedagogical tool for cultivating critical thinking skills in students across a variety of educational settings and age cohorts. Further investigation is warranted to refine intervention designs, ascertain long-term effects, explore optimal implementation conditions, and further investigate mechanisms of skill transfer.

This research was designed to optimize students' critical reasoning capabilities through the application of the Socratic method in the context of physics concepts in Natural Sciences (IPA). This study is categorized as Classroom Action Research (CAR). The focus of the study covered the dynamics of the learning process, with a total of 25 students participating. The study was organized into two comprehensive cycles: Cycle I and Cycle II. Each cycle involved a series of methodological stages: design (planning), implementation (execution), in-depth evaluation (observation), and self-evaluation (reflection). At the end of each cycle, a summative evaluation was conducted through a test, and the research instruments used included observation instruments dedicated to monitoring the activities of educators and students. This study indicates that the adoption of the Socratic approach contributed significantly to improving critical thinking capabilities in the student population. This was evident in students' more active engagement in dialogue and their courage to present rational arguments to support their answers. This quantitative change also showed an increase after the evaluation, whereas previously no participants met the passing criteria (0%). However, in the first cycle, there was a substantial improvement, with an average score of 47, achieving a 28% pass rate. In the second cycle, the average student score increased to 79, with the pass rate soaring to 76%. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that the implementation of the Socratic method has strong potential to optimize the critical thinking skills of seventh-grade students in Physics at SMP Negeri 4 Satu Atap Taliabu Timur Selatan.

Philosophy is often regarded as a discipline intended only for adults, even though thinking and questioning are natural instincts of children. In basic education, the Philosophy for Children (P4C) approach has the potential to serve as a fundamental framework for developing critical, reflective, and ethical thinking skills from an early age. This study aims to examine the implementation of philosophy in primary education and its relevance to character formation and the cultivation of children’s critical thinking abilities. The research employed a qualitative literature review by analyzing various national and international studies related to P4C. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify recurring patterns, key concepts, and the practical implications of applying philosophy in primary school contexts. The findings indicate that philosophy-based learning, through dialogic discussion and the Socratic method, enhances students’ critical thinking, empathy, communication, and moral awareness. In conclusion, philosophy education in elementary schools plays a crucial role in shaping students’ intellectual growth and reflective character. Therefore, integrating the P4C approach into the curriculum represents a strategic pathway toward more humanistic and contextually relevant education.