Reflection, Reflective Thinking

The Research Experience of Social Studies Pre-service Teachers: A Qualitative Study

by Halil Eksi

A. Figen ERSOY, Tuba ÇENGELCİ
Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice
8 (2) • May 2008 • 541-554

Improving teachers’ reflective thinking skills about their instructional applications
in their classrooms and... more Improving teachers’ reflective thinking skills about their instructional applications
in their classrooms and their suggestions to solve the problems they face during teaching
have become more important since the 80s. Reflective thinking is not only
important for the professional development of teachers but it also plays a significant
role in the institutional development of schools, eventually in the development of
the society. Teachers’ taking part in their teachings as researchers depends on their
ability to adopt a researcher role and their experience in research. The participants
of the present study were a group of third-grade pre-service teachers who were attending
the Social Studies Teacher Education Program in the Education Faculty of
Anadolu University. The study was conducted in order to understand the pre-service
teachers’ perceptions of their research experience in the scope of the course titled
Research Method in Social Sciences. The data were collected in June, 2006 by
using semi-structured interviews held with a total of 24 volunteering pre-service teachers.
All the participants, 8 males and 16 females, were selected by using criterion
sampling method. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. Findings showed
that most pre-service teachers believed that teachers should conduct research for the
purpose of solving the problems they might encounter in the learning-teaching process
and for the purpose of professional development. Another finding was that the
pre-service teachers considered the research process as a different experience, although
they described the process as “difficult.” Most pre-service teachers also stated
that they learned the research processes and understood research articles and theses.
They pointed out that they were more willing to conduct a research after their experiences.
In this process, some pre-service teachers experienced various problems
in areas such as the description of the research problems, data collection, time management,
data analysis, and group work. The pre-service teachers suggested that
the course of Research Method in Social Sciences should take place in all teacher
education programs in Turkey, the course should be offered with more course credits,
and it should include field-experience. Final suggestion was that pre-service
teachers should be guided effectively in the entire research process.

Sharing responsibility for learning through formative evaluation: moving to evaluation as learning

by Catherine Bovill

When gathering student feedback on courses and programmes in higher education, the emphasis is often placed on... more When gathering student feedback on courses and programmes in higher education, the emphasis is often placed on adaptations that academic staff can make to enhance teaching approaches and thereby improve the learning experiences of students. These are commendable aims, however, it is argued in this paper that the focus on academic staff making changes to teaching and learning misses an opportunity for students to reflect upon their influences over, and potential to enhance, their learning experiences and those of their peers. Many undergraduate and postgraduate programmes aim to develop students’ skills in critical analysis and autonomous learning, with some courses specifically requiring participants to engage in critical reflection on their practice. Yet it is relatively uncommon for evaluation of courses to include any requirement for students to evaluate their own role in the learning experience. An example is presented of a simple, small-scale formative evaluation exercise where course participants were encouraged to give feedback on a course, their learning experiences and on the teaching approach used. However, this evaluation also required participants to reflect on the role they played in their own and others’ learning. It is argued that the approach described in this paper that encourages student self-reflection on learning as an integral part of evaluation processes, is a form of evaluation as learning. This is an approach that could be adapted for use in a wide range of courses for the purpose of encouraging students to reflect more deeply on their role in their own and others’ learning.

Developing A Reflective Thinking Tendency Scale for Teachers and Student Teachers

by Halil Eksi

Çetin SEMERCİ
Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice
7 (3) • September 2007 • 1369-1376

This paper aims to develop the Reflective Thinking Tendency Scale (RTTS) for
teachers and student teachers.... more This paper aims to develop the Reflective Thinking Tendency Scale (RTTS) for
teachers and student teachers. Survey was the research method used in the study. In
this research, there were 599 cases and 456 of these cases were the students of the
departments of the Turkish language teaching and primary school teaching within
grades of 2nd, 3rd and 4th at F›rat University. The total number of students who attended
the classes mentioned above was 960. The ratio of the population to the
sample was 47.5%. The rest of the cases were composed of 143 primary school teachers
(6th, 7th, 8th grades) who worked in Çermik in the city of Diyarbak›r. The total
number of teachers who worked in Çermik was 194. In this case, the ratio of the
population to the sample was 71%. According to the factor analysis results, KMO value
of the RTTS was 0.91 and the value of Barlett test was 6811.46 (p < .05). In this
scale, there are 7 factors: Continuous and intentional thinking, open- mindness, effective
and interrogated teaching, responsibility of teaching and science, foresighted
and sincere, researcher and looking professional. The results of the RTTS show that
total correlation of items changed between 0.31 and 0.61 and it was found that the
test-retest correlation was 0.74 (p < .01) and split half correlation coefficient was 0.77
(p < .01). The correlation between the scale and the 51 item the California Critical
Thinking Scale (Kökdemir, 2003, 80-82) was 0.69 and the correlation coefficient between
Semerci (2000, 23-26)’s Critical Thinking Skills Scale was 0.61 (p < .01). Cronbach
alpha coefficient of the RTTS was 0.91. The scale consisted of 20 negative and
15 positive items. These results indicate that the scale had validity and reliability.
The scale can be used with teachers and student teachers.

The Undoing of Patriarchy in the Life of Tom Jorde (1922-2011) by Cynthie Garrity-Bond

by Feminism and Religion

Last week I attended the funeral of the one man, who in my feminist musings, was able to image the maleness of God as... more Last week I attended the funeral of the one man, who in my feminist musings, was able to image the maleness of God as father, friend and pastor. If I had thought about it, I would have given him the T-shirt that reads, “This is What a Feminist Looks Like,” but it never occurred to me until now.

Reflective Thinking

by Ken Harbit

Model of Meta-Reflection and In-Depth Analysis of Knowledge Creation Process in Design

by Georgi V. Georgiev

Georgiev, G.V., and Nagai, Y., (2011) Model of Meta-Reflection and In-Depth Analysis of Knowledge Creation Process in Design. International Journal of Knowledge and Systems Science (IJKSS), 2011, Special Issue on “Knowledge Creation, Knowledge Management and Imagination”, 2(2), 49-67, April-June.

This paper proposes a model of meta-reflection and in-depth analysis of the knowledge creation process (KCP). The... more This paper proposes a model of meta-reflection and in-depth analysis of the knowledge creation process (KCP). The authors focus on observation of the KCP in research on creative design. The new method of meta-reflection is applied both to reflection on ‘research about design creativity’ and object of research—‘design creativity’. One result of the applied method of meta-reflection was that the analysis of KCP in research on design involved different tacit forms of knowledge and creativity and included a wide spectrum of knowledge processes and knowledge types. The roots of creativity and imagination were identified, which then stemmed into certain parts of research activities, such as development of hypotheses and theory proposition. The authors produced a model of meta-reflection (MMR) and an in-depth analysis of the KCP. This study is a step that provides understanding of the role that human creativity and imagination play in research.

My Reflective Practice As Research

by Marcia Pereira

A Reflective Account of a Consultation in Abortion Care

by Dr. Edna Astbury-Ward PhD, M.Sc, Dip. H. Ed., RGN.

May 6th 2009 Nursing Standard. Volume 23, Number 35

This article presents a reflective account of a consultation in a
pre-assessment clinic for women requesting... more This article presents a reflective account of a consultation in a
pre-assessment clinic for women requesting abortion. The reflection is based on Johns’ model. Reflection enabled the author to address important issues that the consultation raised. These included the realisation that nurses do not always have to understand why patients make the choices they do, and the importance of allocating sufficient time for sensitive consultations.

Boosting Wisdom: Distance from the self enhances wise reasoning, attitudes and behavior

by Igor Grossmann

Co-authored with Ethan Kross, in press in 'Journal of Experimental Psychology: General', 2012, 141(1), 43-48. doi: 10.1037/ a0024158.

Although humans strive to be wise, they often fail to do so when reasoning over issues that have profound personal... more Although humans strive to be wise, they often fail to do so when reasoning over issues that have profound personal implications. Here we test the hypothesis that psychological distance enhances wise reasoning, attitudes and behavior under such circumstances. Two experiments demonstrate that cueing people to reason about personally meaningful issues (Study 1: Career prospects for the unemployed during an economic recession; Study 2: Anticipated societal changes associated with one’s chosen candidate losing the 2008 United States presidential election) from a distanced perspective enhances wise reasoning (dialecticism; intellectual humility), attitudes (cooperation-related attitude assimilation) and behavior (willingness to join a bipartisan group).