Answer:
Educators have long recognized the importance and applicability of critical reflection across a wide range of educational settings, yet in practice it remains a challenging and nebulous concept for many to firmly grasp. In education, the concept of reflection dates back to the work of John Dewey (1933), who defined it as “active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusion to which it tends” (p. 9). Dewey was the first to point out that experience alone does not constitute learning; instead, a conscious realization must occur for the experience to become a source of learning.
In examining the depth of reflection, Rogers (2001) made an influential and careful study and synthesis, while Peltier, Hay, and Drago (2005) put forward a way to evaluate different levels of reflective thinking, which include habitual actions, understanding, reflection, and critical reflection (refer to Weimer, 2012). Yet the void of ecologically valid classroom-based research on incorporating reflection to improve student learning has left teachers largely on their own when it comes to creating opportunities for reflection in their courses.
Reflection is, however, intrinsically linked to metacognition and self-regulation, where there is ample evidence as to their importance to learning (e.g., Bartimote-Aufflick, Bridgeman, Walker, Sharma, & Smith, 2016; Chen, Chavez, Ong, & Gunderson, 2017; Lang, 2012). Through reflection, learners develop their ability to integrate the insights they gain into their learning/life experience so that they can make better choices and improve their learning (Rogers, 2001). The end goal, self-regulated learning, as defined by Hadwin (2008), involves “the deliberate planning, monitoring and regulating of cognitive, behavioral and affective or motivational processes towards completion of an academic task” (p. 179).
