Defining Reflection: Another Look at John Dewey and Reflective Thinking

Teachers College Record - Tập 104 Số 4 - Trang 842-866 - 2002
Carol R. Rodgers1
1State University of New York

Tóm tắt

Thinking, particularly reflective thinking or inquiry, is essential to both teachers’ and students’ learning. In the past 10 to 15 years numerous commissions, boards, and foundations as well as states and local school districts have identified reflection/inquiry as a standard toward which all teachers and students must strive. However, although the cry for accomplishment in systematic, reflective thinking is clear, it is more difficult to distinguish what systematic, reflective thinking is. There are four problems associated with this lack of definition that make achievement of such a standard difficult. First, it is unclear how systematic reflection is different from other types of thought. Second, it is difficult to assess a skill that is vaguely defined. Third, without a clear picture of what reflection looks like, it has lost its ability to be seen and therefore has begun to lose its value. And finally, without a clear definition, it is difficult to research the effects of reflective teacher education and professional development on teachers’ practice and students’ learning. It is the purpose of this article to restore some clarity to the concept of reflection and what it means to think, by going back to the roots of reflection in the work of John Dewey. I look at four distinct criteria that characterize Dewey's view and offer the criteria as a starting place for talking about reflection, so that it might be taught, learned, assessed, discussed, and researched, and thereby evolve in definition and practice, rather than disappear.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

10.1177/016146810400500601

Dewey J., 1944, Democracy and education.

Dewey J., 1933, How we think.

Dewey J., 1938, Experience and education.

Hawkins D., 1974, The informed vision: Essays on learning and human nature.

Himley M., 2000, From another angle: Children's strengths and school standards.

Johnson W., 1997, TESOL Matters

Kegan R., 1983, The evolving self: Problem and process in human development.

Kegan R., 1994, In over our heads: The mental demands of modern life.

10.1111/j.1741-5446.2000.00213.x

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. (1987). The five propositions of accomplished teaching. Retrieved October, 2000, from www.nbpts.org

National Commission on Teaching and America's Future. (1996). What matters most: Teaching for America's future. New York: Author.

National Foundation for the Improvement of Education. (1996). Teachers take charge of their learning. Washington, DC: Author.

National Staff Development Council. (1995). Standards for staff development. Oxford, OH: Author.

Osterman K. F., 1993, Reflective practice for educators: Improving schooling through professional development.

Polanyi M., 1967, The tacit dimension.

10.1111/0161-4681.00078

Rodgers C., Harvard Educational Review

Schön D. A., 1983, The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action.

Shulman L., 1988, Reflection in teacher education, 31

Thompson C. L., 1999, Teaching as the learning professional: Handbook of policy and practice, 341

Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Teachers College Record

Tập 104 Số 4

842-866

Thông tin tác giả