[ams6110]

Heh. I do this with my kids when they ask for help on their math homework. I won't help until they've made an attempt themselves. First of all more often than not they can figure it out on their own. Secondly if they get stuck, I at least have a better idea of where their mental blocks are.

I learned this approach from my wife, incidentally, who is a teacher.

[omaranto]

I like the Socratic method, but don't always feel I have enough energy or time to do things that way. When somebody asks me for help with math homework and I'm tired or in a hurry I'm much more likely to quickly sketch an answer than behave in a teacherly manner.

[thebooktocome]

This.

I'm a math graduate student. I was also once a philosophy student, and so I have a soft spot in my heart for the Socratic method. Unfortunately, it doesn't work so well in my teaching, because the poor snowflakes have been so well-conditioned to avoid thinking. After a year or two I gave up and became part of the problem.

It takes me about thirty seconds on average to sketch the solution to the typical algebra homework problem. It'd be more instructive to lead them through it interactively, but I just can't make the ROI high enough to make it worthwhile.