Questions are essential to learning. Since critical thinking is about inquiry, answers, unless they lead to further questions, may lead to the memorization of a concept, such as the difference between blank verse and rhymed couplets, or the taxonomy of the domestic house cat. But they will not lead to a deeper understanding of poetry or zoology. During the Socratic seminar, you should both ask meaningful questions and lead students to ask intelligent questions, because these create a more engaged discussion. Questions that have a definitive or yes or no answer will not foster discussion, but open ended questions will.
To engender a true Socratic dialogue, you must guarantee that all participants have a sense of equality: that anyone has the right to either ask a question, give an answer or elaborate. This can be done through logistics. You should conduct Socratic seminars around a table, or if a table is not available, you should place desks in a circle. This allows everyone to both see and hear everyone else. Since nonverbal communication is important to understanding, this makes communication more effective. Students should feel comfortable talking without raising their hands, as long as they do not interrupt others disrespectfully. All should talk openly and maturely about concepts; this results in students' learning not only from the teacher, but also from each other, even when concepts are confusing or complex.
According to The Critical Thinking Community website, the foundation or intellectual driving force for all fields, including the hard sciences such as physics and biology, would never have developed had it not been for Socratic questioning. You want to lead students to ask questions that can be "taken seriously as the driving force in a process of thinking." The Socratic seminar is extremely effective as a generator of questions because it creates a safe environment. Since students do not sit one-on-one with teachers, they feel less intimidated. Once a shy student witnesses another asking a question or offering an answer to an open-ended question, she will feel entitled to do so herself. Students who fear being wrong will overcome that fear.
The Socratic seminar method needs to be problem centered. The questions you bring to the dialogue must lead to answers which are both analytical and can be analyzed. By its very nature, Socratic dialogue is honest and sincere, as it is based on each student's personal experiences, tempered and informed by that student's belief system and knowledge base. Since critical thinking plays a large role in the process, students will also learn to be honest with themselves about their thought processes, as others in the seminar encourage them to think about their thinking, or deconstruct it through dialogue. You must be honest to admit that you do not have all the answers.
Often learning occurs when the answers are arrived at or achieved by the students themselves, based on all the probable answers that the seminar group theorizes. The outcome is learning by discovery and consensus, the achievement of the "a-ha moment" when the entire group reasons through a question via dialogue.