Dewey and Schon’s Work on Reflective Practice
Module 2: Dewey and Schon’s Work on Reflective Practice
Objectives for this Module:
- Identify the historic roots and components of Dewey’s thoughts on reflective practice.
- Identify Schon’s two levels of reflection (reflection in action, reflection on action)
Essential Questions:
- What are the historic roots and components of Dewey’s thoughts on reflective practice?
- What are Schon’s two levels of reflection (reflection in action, reflection on action)?
Dewey. John Dewey’s (1933) seminal work, How We Think, is one of the premiere works on reflection. In this book, Dewey (1933) defined reflection as “the 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 conclusions to which it tends (p. 9). Some descriptors that characterize Dewey’s conception of reflection are: active, deliberate, conscious, rational, logical, and linear. Dewey considered reflection as a scientific, linear process wherein one considers their thoughts and experiences, but also examines those in light of personal assumptions, beliefs or knowledge (Sellars, 2014). This systematic thought process is applied to develop solutions to problems that we encounter on a daily basis, that present confusion, disquiet, or even a sense of wonder or awe. These problems are resolved by persistent, reasoned thinking (Sellars, 2014). There are five steps to Dewey’s model of reflection. Although numerous authors have named the steps, they all center on the same concepts.
- Felt difficulty (the new or uncomfortable experience). Perplexed when confronted with a problem.
- Define the problem (context of situation). Due to the felt difficulty, one is left wondering about the context of the situation (what is going on) and what needs to be done; is the problem internal or external? Elaborate by refer to past experiences that were similar.
- Suggest a solution; explore or brainstorm ideas to come up with a solution. Develop hypotheses.
- Development by reasoning of the bearings of the suggestion rational elaboration of an idea; Rational elaboration of an idea or suggested solutions. Compare solutions or hypotheses.
- Further observation and experiment leading to its acceptance or rejection; that is, the conclusion of belief or disbelief. Take action on the hypotheses.
One key hallmark of Dewey’s work is that he identified the fact that reflection leads to further inquiry and deeper levels of thought.
Schon. Schon (1983, 1987, 1991) built on Dewey’s work by introducing two levels of
reflection: Reflection in action and reflection on action. Reflection in action occurs when on thinks or reflects during a situation or activity. Often, this happens when something is going wrong, when something unexpected happens or when one feels apprehensive about something out of the ordinary. Practitioners rarely formalize processes that occur during reflection in action. One does not have the time to ponder the various factors in a situation that cause reflection in action. Rather, they must improvise on the spot as they respond to unexpected events and situations (Schon, 1987). This improvisation is tacit in nature, which means that the individual uses prior knowledge and experience to think on what they know about the situation. The element of surprise causes the individual to use prior knowledge to respond with a new and tentative understanding. One usually reacts to these surprise situations in spontaneous and routine manner (Schon, 1987, p. 56).
Reflection on action occurs after a situation has passed or an activity is over. One steps back and reconstructs the experience to understand what happened and to examine lessons learned. Reflection-on-action allows us to gain awareness of our mental habits, how we acquire new ones. Through metacognition, we learn lessons, increase our cognitive flexibility and problem-solving effectiveness. Table 1 illustrates the differences between Schon’s two levels of reflection.
Figure 1. Reflection in action versus Reflection on action
Table 1.Reflection in Action versus Reflection on Action
Dewey and Schon identified the process of reflective thinking years ago; however, interest in the topic is still growing. The primary reason for the continued focus on reflection is that it for this subject is still growing currently. The main reason for that is that it impacts the effectiveness and productivity of practitioners as they face complex problems in the workplace.
References Dewey, J. (1933). How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflection of reflective thinking to the education process. Boston, MA: DC Heath. Sellars, M. (2014). Reflective practice for teachers. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications. Chapter 1. Schon, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York, NY: Basic Books. Schon, D. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner. San Francisco, SA.: Jossey Bass. Schon, D. (1991). The reflective practitioner: How professionals thinking and act. Oxford Avebury.
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