Socrates has a very unique teaching style. He is indirect with his questions, but in the end he always pulls his point together.

When attempting to educate the public on a certain point, Socrates questions people as to why they think their view is right. This teaching style is effective because it forces people to have a deeper understanding of the things they hold as truths. Like when he is talking to the jury, they are pushed to think of what they personally believe about the issue. This is also a beneficial teaching style because it put Socrates in control. He knows what questions he's going to ask, and he knows what he's trying to get at; however the person he is trying to teach is kept on their toes, and forced to think about what they are going to say before they say it.

Yet, this teaching style can be detrimental because of how indirect it is. People may become confused or frustrated because Socrates takes a round-about direction to his point. Also, this may not be a good teaching style because Socrates makes a lot of connections that involve thinking 'out of the box'. This could also confuse people, or lead them to believe he is just connecting a bunch of junk for the sake of his point.

This teaching style has good properties and bad. But it is also a very popular teaching style. It reminds me of the interrogation/jury teaching style of Henry Drummond from Inherit the Wind. He led the jury and the witness in a circle of questions in which he taught them the importance of the freedom to think.