Usefulness of seminar library to influence effective Socratic seminars

Abstract

This research project revolved around the importance of Socratic seminars in Montessori middle schools. The goal was to establish an online seminar library for the teachers at Parkway Montessori Middle School, which included texts, questions, rubrics and other useful tools to help teachers hold effective seminars in their classrooms. The research looked at which tools were useful and how the library needed to be modified in order to better meet the needs of the teachers. Data was gathered by monitoring of the seminar library, observing seminars and surveying teaching staff at the beginning the school year and the end of the 3rd quarter. Results show that the seminar library is supported in the sense that staff helped create the library by supplying many of the tools needed to hold a successful seminar but not supported in the day-to-day grind of teaching. The teachers who are already doing seminars often in their classrooms aided in the creation of the library but not the maintenance and the teachers unfamiliar with the seminars were insecure about attempting them. The results showed that electronic supports do not replace the need for human assistance.