Glenys Hook

Critical Thinking and

Reflective Learning

“…reflection in the context of learning is a generic term for those intellectual and affective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead to new understandings and appreciations” Boud 1985

Reflection

What is Reflective Practice?

Taking the opportunity to think about the work you are doing, as you do it, or after you have done it.

‘… looking back on an experience and making sense of it to identify what to do in the future.’

(Drew and Bingham, 2001 p221)

‘…do something, think about it what you did, come to conclusions about what you did and plan to try again.’

(Kolb 1984)

‘ The art of writing things down helps you to clarify your thoughts and emotions, to work out strategies, and to focus on your development and progress…’

(Cottrell, 2001 p67)

This can be done in a ‘weblog’, or blog – you will need to:

reflect on personal, academic and professional development

For assessment, keep four entries Start of module – expectations, skills Report assessment experiences Presentation assessment experiences End of module – the full experience!

Why should you be reflective practitioners?

To enable professional development The ‘knowledge’ economy Continuous professional development

To maintain quality Reflecting on what went wrong and why

= improvement Reflecting on what went well and why =

good practice

Reflection

Reflection then includes hard systematic thinking and a soft initiative insight, leading to a plan of action based on critical evaluation of all the available evidence.

Don’t just think about what went wrong/well and why – also plan to improve skills if necessary, or to use those skills in future events

Assessment

A 'reflective practitioner' is someone who does something and is automatically reflective

Reviews what happened and asks 'why?', 'how?’, ‘where?’,’ what?‘

What skills can you take forward/ need to improve/develop?

How will I do this? The best practitioners are constantly learning,

evaluating and refining their practice, even after years of experience.

The next stage is to apply what you have learned from one situation to the next

What can reflective practice do for me?

Enhance your self awareness Develop creative answers to difficulties Enhance your problem solving skills Enhance your ability to evaluate Enhance your ability to action plan for

success Make you an effective manager

Kolb’s Learning Cycle (1984)Taking stock

What do I know?Individual

ReflectionWhat do I need to

know?Contextual

Feedback/ evaluationHow much and how well do I

understand?Relational

PlanningHow can I take my learning further?Developmental

Reflection on Practice (Ghayle 1998)Navel Gazing Learning from the

day’s chaosTalking about what you do with others

Learning from experience

Reasoning Remembering when

Being honest with yourself

Becoming more aware

Constructive criticism

Improving what you have done

Doing it after a lesson

Understand your feelings

Re-assembling what you do

Questioning yourself

Letting go of personal prejudice

Something done by reflective practitioners

Gaining confidence in your work

Hard work

The latest bandwagon

What you do academically

Dwelling on mistakes

Justifying what you do

Personal growth Helping you to see what you would or would not do again and why

“An investigation whose purpose is to explore a situation, phenomenon, question, or problem to arrive at a hypothesis or conclusion about it that integrates all available information and that can be therefore be convincingly justified” Kurfiss 1988

Critical Thinking

CT as a process (Cottrell 2005) Identify other people’s positions/ arguments/

conclusions Evaluate the evidence for alternative points of

view Weigh up opposing arguments/ evidence fairly Read between the lines Identify false/ inaccurate assumptions Recognise techniques to make certain positions

appealing Reflect on issues in a structured way, bringing

logic to bear Draw conclusions- valid/ justified Present a point of view

Benefits

Improved attention and observation

Integration of theory and practice

New and expanded knowledge

Safe and effective practitioners

Protection of the public Context of practice Changing needs Ownership and responsibility Ability to identify key points

in a text/ message

Stimulates enquiry, increases self awareness. Develops analytical skills Encourages learning Assists practice teachers

in analysing the quality of the student’s competencies

Implications for future practice.

Focused reading Ability to respond to

appropriate points in a message

Barriers to Critical Thinking (Cottrell 2005)

Misunderstanding of what is meant by criticism

Over estimating personal reasoning abilities

Lack of methods, strategies, practice Reluctance to critique experts Affective reasons Mistaking information for understanding Insufficient focus and attention to detail

Models

Critical Analysis (Edwards 1998) Re-evaluation (Boud 1985) Reflection in and On Action (Schőn 1987) Gibbs 1998 Driscoll 1994 Johns 1995

Reflecting in and on Action (Schőn 1987)

In Action: practising, influences decisions and care at

that moment, Promotes skilled and flexible responses of

the expert practitioner On Action: After the event, views different

interventions, adds knowledge Promotes development of professional skills

and knowledge

Gibbs reflective cycle( 1998)

Description – what happened? Feelings- what were you thinking and

feeling? Evaluation- what was good and bad about

the experience? Analysis: what sense can you make of the

situation? Conclusion- what else could you have

done? Action plan- if it arose again what would

you do?

Driscoll’s model of reflection ( 1994)

WHAT? Returning to the situation SO WHAT? Understanding the context NOW WHAT? Modifying future outcomes

Barriers

Matter of choice Adoption of a reflective approach Organisational structure which inhibits

rather than encourages reflection Resistance to change Lack of time Past negative experiences/ presumptions Lack of self awareness/ intervening skills Other’s expectations Negative factors which impede learning

References and Bibliography

Boud D, Keogh R& Walker I edit (1985) Reflection: Turning Experience into Learning. London Kogan Page

Cottrell S. (2005) Critical Thinking Skills. Basingstoke. Palgrave Macmillan

Edwards SL (1998) Critical thinking and analysis: a model for writing assignments. BJN 7(3) 1590166

Gibbs G (1988) Learning by doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods. London FEU

Driscoll JJ (1994) Reflective Practice for Practise- a framework of structured reflection for clinical areas. Senior Nurse 14 (1) 47-50

Ghaye A & Ghaye K (1998) Teaching and Learning through Critical Reflective Practice. London Fulton Publishers

Johns C (1995) The value of reflective practice for Nursing. JCN 4, 23030

References and Bibliography Johns C (2000) Becoming a reflective Practitioner. Oxford

Blackwell Science Kolb DA (1984) Experiential Learning: experience as the source

of learning and development. New Jersey Prentice Hall. Moon J (2004) A Handbook of Reflective and Experiential

Learning: theory and practice. London Routledge Falmer Osterman K& Kottkamp R () Reflective Practice for Educators. 2nd

edit. California Corwin Press Palmer AM, Burns S& Bulman C (1994) Rrflective Practice in

Nursing: the growth of the professional practitioner. Oxford Blackwell Science

Scaife J (2010) Supervising the reflective Practitioner: an essential guide to theory and practice. London Routledge

Schőn DA (1987) Educating the Reflective Practitioner. San Francisco Jossey Bass.

Thompson S& Thompson N (2008) The Critically Reflective Practitioner. Basingstoke Palgrave Macmillan