The seminar method is the level of teaching often found in advance/graduate programs. The teacher is proficient in his topic, but is monitoring the degree to which this is true among his students. After all, the goal is to get the student up to speed with the current research material.
This is usually done through the open-ended question method. Not just at the beginning but all through, until the student is covering all the bases as well as the instructor.
The leader of an adult bible study should try for this same level of familiarity from his students, but when they are not there, they need to be led to saturation with the passage. There is no substitute. This prevents a bible study from becoming an inventory of various human experiences, because the question needs to be--needs to keep coming back to--what the passage says and means.
In actual graduate seminar method, the student has usually been asked to write a research essay. The essay is circulated for the group and then the writer is to defend what he says. At this level, the instructor is also assessing whether the students are asking good questions of the writer.
This is a good practice, as it keeps the most stimulating and productive conversations going, and makes each student grow in proficiency and articulation.
This is usually done through the open-ended question method. Not just at the beginning but all through, until the student is covering all the bases as well as the instructor.
The leader of an adult bible study should try for this same level of familiarity from his students, but when they are not there, they need to be led to saturation with the passage. There is no substitute. This prevents a bible study from becoming an inventory of various human experiences, because the question needs to be--needs to keep coming back to--what the passage says and means.
In actual graduate seminar method, the student has usually been asked to write a research essay. The essay is circulated for the group and then the writer is to defend what he says. At this level, the instructor is also assessing whether the students are asking good questions of the writer.
This is a good practice, as it keeps the most stimulating and productive conversations going, and makes each student grow in proficiency and articulation.