The Harkness table, Harkness method, or Harkness discussion is a teaching and learning method involving students seated in a large, oval configuration to discuss ideas in an encouraging, open-minded environment with only occasional or minimal teacher intervention.

Overview

The Harkness method is in use at many American

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

s and colleges and encourages discussion in classes. The style is related to the

Socratic method The Socratic method (also known as the method of Elenchus or Socratic debate) is a form of argumentative dialogue between individuals based on asking and answering questions. Socratic dialogues feature in many of the works of the ancient Greek ...

. Developed at

Phillips Exeter Academy Phillips Exeter Academy (often called Exeter or PEA) is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, college-preparatory school in Exeter, New Hampshire. Established in 1781, it is America's sixth-oldest boarding school and educates an es ...

, the method's name comes from the oil magnate and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

Edward Harkness, who presented the school with a monetary gift in 1930. It has been adopted in numerous schools, such as The Dunham School, St. Mark's School of Texas, Germantown Academy,

Milton Academy Milton Academy (informally referred to as Milton) is a coeducational, co-educational, Independent school, independent, and College-preparatory school, college-preparatory boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts, educating students in g ...

, The College Preparatory School, The Masters School, and Seoul Foreign School where small class-size makes it effective. However, Harkness remains impractical for schools with larger class sizes. Harkness described its use as follows: :What I have in mind is classroomwhere tudentscould sit around a table with a teacher who would talk with them and instruct them by a sort of tutorial or conference method, where ach studentwould feel encouraged to speak up. This would be a real revolution in methods. Harkness practices can vary, most notably between humanities subjects such as English and history and technical subjects such as math and physics.

References

External links

'Edward S. Harkness, 1874-1940'
Richard F. Niebling,

(PDF) {{DEFAULTSORT:Harkness Table Teaching in the United States Phillips Exeter Academy