Throughout history, the concept of reflection has attracted considerable interest among educators and educational researchers. Dewey, for example, argued that independent learners are required to understand, monitor, and navigate their learning processes, and therefore emphasized the importance of reflective thinking, which is thinking about the learning process itself. Reflection refers to inwardly directed self-thinking whose purpose is to derive meaning and insights regarding the characteristics of knowing and learning. Different uses of the concept of reflection refer to thinking about and examining existing knowledge, learning processes, and learning experiences (Lew & Schmidt, 2011). Reflection encourages the development of awareness and understanding of the nature of knowledge and of the learner’s personal learning processes. Consequently, reflection may contribute to learners’ academic achievement.
Research indicates that integrating reflective activities throughout the learning process may help learners become more familiar with their ways of thinking, develop critical thinking, and reach meaningful insights regarding both the content and the learning process. When reflection is conducted collaboratively, it may support collaborative work and deepen shared knowledge. Indeed, reflection and critical thinking are important components of scientific thinking.
Processes of reflection can be supported and encouraged through a variety of tools and approaches. For example, through group or classroom discussions, reflective questionnaires, feedback, or learning journals. These practices can incorporate questions that Encourage reflection on learning processes, such as “What did I learn about myself during the process? Why did I do what I did?” and “What worked well and what worked less well?”. Although many researchers and educators recognize the importance of reflective activities in the learning process, they are not always implemented deliberately. Citizen science in schools provides opportunities for students to investigate their learning experiences and learning processes while relating them to the learning processes that characterize scientists’ work and the advancement of scientific knowledge in society.
For example, in the “Iris” Project, as part of the citizen science process and at different stages throughout the project, students were asked to examine which questions interested them most to investigate. In addition, students were asked in what ways their participation in the project contributed to them personally and whether they would recommend participation in such a project to others. These questions enabled them to examine the learning processes they experienced during the project and the ways in which these processes were similar to or different from the research processes of scientists.
Deepening and Expansion ▼
Definitions of the concept of reflection
Lew and Schmidt (2011) present several definitions of the concept of reflection. Some definitions focus on individuals’ examination of the nature of knowledge: “active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in light of the grounds that support it and the conclusions to which it leads.” Other definitions emphasize reflection on the learning experience: “intellectual and affective activities in which people engage to explore their experiences in order to arrive at new understandings and appreciations.” Additional definitions focus on the reflective learning process, described as “a form of mental processing with a purpose and/or anticipated outcome applied to relatively complex or ill-structured ideas for which there is no obvious solution.” All of these definitions emphasize purposeful critical analysis of knowledge and processes of knowing in an attempt to achieve deeper meaning and understanding.
Cognitive apprenticeship for encouraging reflection as part of scientific thinking
Etkina and colleagues (2010) present the ability to engage in reflection as one component of scientific thinking. They propose the cognitive apprenticeship approach as a possible way to cultivate this ability, as well as critical thinking. In their article, they present a study conducted as part of physics laboratory courses in which students designed and conducted experiments, compared with a control group that only conducted experiments. The researchers supported the students by demonstrating how experts approach the design of experiments and by providing scaffolds that helped break complex tasks into subtasks combined with reflective questions and formative assessment. These scaffolds were introduced in order to cultivate reflective and critical ways of thinking among learners. The findings of the study showed that students who participated in the intervention demonstrated higher abilities in applying scientific thinking, including in tasks in domains they had not studied (such as biology and additional physics topics).
Reflection as a reflective and questioning thinking process in education
In her review of reflection in education, Ran (2016) presents reflection as an important human practice in which individuals reconsider their experiences, evaluate them, and learn from them. She distinguishes between several types of reflection: technical reflection, which examines the efficiency of means for achieving goals; practical reflection, in which the goals themselves are also examined; and critical reflection, which addresses moral and social aspects during the process of examination and evaluation. The latter is often used in teaching and aims to encourage thinking about thinking (meta-thinking / metacognition), the development of critical thinking, and the activation of processes of self-judgment and self-regulation. In addition, Ran points to the distinction in the research literature between reflection in action and reflection on action, and presents several models for their implementation in educational contexts.
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Ministry of Education, Teaching Staff Portal, suggestions for several tools and practices for fostering reflection. https://pop.education.gov.il/teaching-tools/teaching-practices/search-teaching-practices/self-reflection/
Ran, O. (2016). Reflection: Reflective and questioning thinking in education. In L. Yosefsberg Ben-Yehoshua (Ed.). Tel Aviv: The Mofet Institute. http://library.macam.ac.il/study/pdf_files/d12284.pdf
Kali, Y. (2006). Collaborative knowledge-building using the Design Principles Database. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 1(2), 187–201.
Lew, M. D., & Schmidt, H. G. (2011). Self-reflection and academic performance: Is there a relationship? Advances in Health Sciences Education, 16(4), 529–545.
Etkina, E., Karelina, A., Ruibal-Villaseñor, M., Rosengrant, D., Jordan, R., & Hmelo-Silver, C. E. (2010). Design and reflection help students develop scientific abilities: Learning in introductory physics laboratories. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 19(1), 54–98.