This is a great video showing the power of questioning. Telling them what they should do or giving them more information only leads the smokers to “get defensive.” But when confronted with a question, which gives them the power in the interaction, the smokers immediately become the person making the decision and, therefore, try to persuade the young boys to not take up smoking. This made the smokers tell the young boys what they were trying to get them to do in the first place. This also makes them self-reflect, asking themselves why they are still smoking. In applying this idea to education or just trying to persuade someone of anything. After this social experiment, I can safely say that trying to tell someone who has any idea of what you're trying to persuade them of does exactly the opposite, and they immediately get defensive.
If you teach a child or someone who has no prior knowledge of the subject, you have to treat them totally differently. In that case, someone with no prior knowledge of the subject wants to be informed.
Many times in education, questioning can be used to “disarm” the person you want to persuade. Once, disarmed, the person in question is trying to convince you. Once this happens, you can turn the persuasion back on them by asking them why or why not. At this point, you are not telling them what to do, they are telling themselves what to do by explaining to you. This reminds me of the master and pupil relationship when the master or teacher replies only with questions. I know this is taking things a bit too far, but it makes you realize that teaching is probably one of the oldest professions and this is not a new idea.
References
Crucial Learning. (2015, January 5). How to Change People Who Don't Want to Change
[Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ACi-D5DI6A
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