Trace the teacher-student chain from Socrates through Plato to Aristotle, and practice the Socratic method as a historical-thinking tool.
Three philosophers, each the next one's student, shaped Greek and later Western thought so deeply that their ideas are still studied today. Socrates (about 470-399 BCE) wrote nothing himself; everything historians know about him comes through his students, especially Plato. Socrates taught by asking probing questions to expose contradictions in what people claimed to believe, a technique now called the Socratic method, and he argued that "the unexamined life is not worth living." Athens eventually charged him with corrupting the youth and disrespecting the city's gods; he was sentenced to death and, in 399 BCE, drank poison hemlock rather than flee.
Plato (about 428-348 BCE), Socrates's student, founded the Academy in Athens, one of the first organized institutions of higher learning in the Western world, and wrote dialogues, often featuring Socrates as a character, including The Republic, which imagines an ideally governed state. Aristotle (384-322 BCE), Plato's student at the Academy, founded his own school, the Lyceum, and wrote systematically across nearly every field -- logic, biology, physics, ethics, and politics -- emphasizing careful observation of the natural world. Aristotle later tutored a young prince who would become one of history's most consequential conquerors: Alexander, the subject of next week's lesson.
Mastery looks like: They can state the correct Socrates-Plato-Aristotle teaching chain and demonstrate the Socratic method with a simple example.
Common stumbles: Reversing the teacher-student order (for example, thinking Aristotle taught Plato) or confusing which philosopher wrote which famous work.