Reflection is:

Self awareness: thinking of yourself, your experiences and your view of the world

Self improvement: learning from experiences and wanting to improve some area of your life

Empowerment: putting you in control of making changes and behaving in a different way

Reflection, or thinking about our experiences, is the key to learning. Reflection allows us to analyze our experiences, make changes based on our mistakes, keep doing what is successful, and build upon or modify past knowledge based on new knowledge. Reflection also allows us to make connections between courses or between school, work and home.

Have you ever missed the bus and then thought next time I’ll leave the house 5 minutes earlier'?

This is an example of your being reflective:

you thought about an experience

and decided to learn from it and

do something different the next time.

To think and write reflectively you have to:

Experience something

Think about what happened

Learn from the experience

Reflective thinking helps you to:

Develop a questioning attitude and new perspectives

Identify areas for change and improvement

Respond effectively to new challenges

Generalize and apply what you have learned from one situation to other situations

Why is reflective thinking important?

Modern society is becoming more complex,

information is becoming available and changing more

rapidly prompting users to constantly rethink, switch

directions, and change problem-solving strategies.

Thus, it is increasingly important to prompt reflective

thinking during learning to help learners develop

strategies to apply new knowledge to the complex

situations in their day-to-day activities.

Reflective thinking helps learners develop higher-order thinking skills by prompting learners to

a) relate new knowledge to prior understanding,

b) think in both abstract and conceptual terms,

c) apply specific strategies in novel tasks,

d) understand their own thinking and learning strategies.

Reporting

Report what happened or what the issue or incident involved.

Why is it relevant?

Respond to the incident or issue by making observations, expressing your opinion, or asking questions.

Relating

Relate or make a connection between the incident or issue and your own skills, professional experience, or discipline knowledge.

Have I seen this before?

Were the conditions the same or different ?

Do I have the skills and knowledge to deal with this ?

Reasoning

Highlight in detail significant factors underlying the incident or issue.

Explain and show why they are important to an understanding of the incident or issue.

Consider different perspectives.

Reconstructing

Reframe or reconstruct future practice or professional understanding.

How would I deal with this next time?

What might work and why? Are there different options?

Are my ideas supported by theory?

An action research is an inquiry-oriented process of self

monitoring that allows practitioners to develop skills,

assess disposition towards teaching and learning, and

provide systematic experiences that foster growth in

teaching and learning.

It is an integral part of working in a school. Through

action research , practitioners move from technical

rationality (Van Manen,1977) within classroom to

critical examination of classroom processes.

Creating reflective thinking through action research is a very substantial method, and practitioners carry out it today because:

Investigations are more natural

Finding are more credible and valid when relate to practice.

Practitioners are valuable source of knowledge regarding classroom situations.

Practitioners’ research into their own practices

may foster change more readily.

Action research establishes a reflective, problem

solving mindset in practitioners.

Practitioners experience a chance to explore issues

of interest and concern.

An opportunity exist for improved professionalism

and efficacy.

Practitioners’ empowerment is increased.

Action resarch is one of the most suitable means of creating reflective thinking. Benefits of action research for pratitioners include

Increased emphasis on appropriate use of strategies, tecniques, and models.

Increased thoughtfulness towards teaching

Increased awareness of roles in teaching

Identification of a problem

Focusing on a central theme or questions.

Deciding on a purpose and goals.

Selecting techniques for monitoring research.

Principles of procedures that include data gathering and analysis.

Application to and implications for existing practice and further research.

The process involved in action research correlates

well with the reflective thinking model. There are

some steps to take to create reflective thinking through

action resarch.

The first step is to identify a problem. Identification of a

problem should stem from a puzzlement or a gap

between what is desired and what currently exist.

In this step, data gathering is very crucial. To collect data, a practitioner may use

Field notes

Interviews

Sociograms

Student artifacts

Audio or videotapings

Participant or nonparticipant observations.

A second and vital step in creating reflective thinking in action research is data analysis. The process of data analysis involves making meaning of data gathered during research. It is an ongoing and systematic way of determining the value of the intervention and monitoring the research proceedings.

Final stages of the process include application

considerations and implications for further

action or research thay may lead to a reframing

of the process.

The action research provides a focus to promote/create reflective thinking in order to help practitioners to work through or work within the ‘problem’ they experience.

To create reflective thinking, action research makes use of reflective activities. Reflective thinking activities consists of three different modes.

Technical

Practitioners engaging in action research at a

technical level seek to analyze and improve

instruction. It provides them with a forum for

discussing problems within a field setting

worthy of further research.

Contextual

At the contextual level, decision making of

practitioners is enhanced through action research.

Practitioners with grade or building commodities

collaborate to plan a small research project.

Dialectical

Practitioners functining in the dialectical mode

are aware of social, political, and ethical issues

in school cultures. Action research is carried

out to seek change based on ethical, moral, or

sociopolitical issues of situations that are

problematic to them.

Reflection and action research go together, and they back up each other.

Action resarch is a chief way of promoting reflective thinking. It creates many advantages both for teachers and learners.

It is important to go step by step while doing action research to create a reflective thinking environment.

Thanks for Listening

MİTHAT EKİNCİ