Socratic Seminar

This week in class, we put our knowledge to the test through doing a socratic seminar! We prepped for three separate discussion questions overviewing topics we have learned thus far in the semester, but with a twist. Each of us chose a book to read and log throughout the month, to ultimately write a report on. We each applied our new knowledge we gained from our books and applied it to our socratic questions to discuss in front of the class in the circle, backing our point thoughtfully with data and statistics from our readings. The first discussion question covered the topic of themes in society, economics, and the environment that are interlocked through sustainability, where we shared ideas from our books on how to promote these themes. The second question expressed the concerns of unsustainable practices. Students shared how to address these problems with specific examples of solutions,, and prioritizing what would be a good method for immediate action.  These included such things as installing insulation is a way to combat CO2 emissions sustainably, and other practices that every individual can do, due to not everyone having access to a farm like ours. The third and final question we discussed focused on the future. Students proposed their examples from their books that demonstrated a sustainable future for agricultural systems. Our class agreed that a community based system is easier, and more productive than doing so single handedly. Teamwork makes the dream work! Overall, this socratic seminar was a success, it was interesting to see all the different sustainable approaches each author took, whether it was a sustainable lifestyle, or farming, there were many ideas we could apply to our own lives and class farm! —Sophia