Agreed about a mixture being better than pure Socratic method. (Lawyer and part-time law professor here.) In my own courses I've been experimenting with 1) as

Agreed about a mixture being better than pure Socratic method. (Lawyer and part-time law professor here.) In my own courses I've been experimenting with 1) asking students to read what amounts to a FAQ about the relevant material — then in class, 2) posing a question orally, often a variation on one of the FAQs, 3) having the students discuss the oral question in small groups, and finally 4) calling on a student to report out his group's answer to the oral question. The students seem to respond well. (Sadly, I have no actual data to measure comparative pedagogical efficacy.)