Socratic teaching is not teaching, but direct transmission is: Notes from 13 to 15-year olds' conceptions of teaching

We studied what 13-15-year-olds believe teaching's components are. Thirty-six children viewed two films: direct transmission (DT) and Socratic teaching (ST) and a third film of a non-teaching conversation (C). We investigated the participants' understanding of teaching's components and the role of intentionality in teaching. All children judged that DT was teaching and that ST and the C were not. After revealing the teacher's intention to teach or its lack, nobody changed their judgments. Two explanations for these are the extent of exposure to teaching and that very young children in early childhood already hold a DT view of teaching.