Doctoral Research Ideas

My doctoral research goals are to:

            1. Explore how group reflection support reflective practice and learning.

            2. Explore factors that influence group reflection.

            3. Find ways to promote collaborative reflection in group learning/work,

            4. Find ways to use the strategy of collaborative reflection to support reflective practice and learning.

My inquiry came with an assumption: group reflection supports reflective practice and learning. When I talk about group reflection, I mean reflection that happens in a social context (Clarà et al., 2019; Tigelaar et al., 2008), which is enabled by communal interactions between people who share experience and construct meanings together (Prilla et al., 2013; Raelin, 2001), and aims to reach shared understandings and appreciations (Yukawa, 2006; Mann & Walsh, 2013; Prilla et al., 2012).

I assumed that reflection in a group context has unique benefits compared to reflection in solitary. The guiding questions for my inquiry are: If, and How, does this happen (group reflection supports learning)? What factors contribute to a collaborative reflection? What strategies can be used to promote collaborative reflection in group learning/work? How can collaborative reflection be used as an instructional strategy to support learning?

Firstly, one of the main focuses of my inquiry is on reflection, one of the most emphasized thoughts for learning and living (Dewey, 1933). Based on the literature review, I summarized the following features of reflection:

• Reflection is a type of thinking closely connected with personal experiences and reactions (Boyd & Fales, 1983; Dewey, 1933; Schön, 1983). Unlike other thoughts that could happen without reference to real or specific happenings to oneself, reflection is rooted in one's personal experience. The triggers and objects of reflection come from one’s being in the world, including his/her interactions with the external world (Dewey, 1933; Rodgers, 2002), personal responses to specific situations (Finlay, 2008; Rogers, 2001), emotions and thoughts related to his/her responses (Boud et al., 1985), and premises, beliefs, values, and perspectives one holds in situations (Finlay, 2008; Rogers, 2001).

• Reflection is a social phenomenon (Dewey, 1916/1944; Reynolds, 2017). Although reflection is typically regarded as a solitary mental activity, it is rooted in social interactions and could only be best understood as a social phenomenon (Reynolds, 2017). One's experience and reflection are a personal practice situated in specific social and cultural contexts. As Dewey indicated, “a man really living alone (alone mentally as well as physically) would have little or no occasion to reflect upon his experience to extract its net meaning” (Dewey, 1916/1944, p.6).

• Reflection is a difficult and disciplined way of thinking; it proceeds with a systematic process (Dewey, 1933; Finlay, 2008; Rodgers, 2002). Although reflection is generally simplified as “mulling over” something, it is not a free-thinking process but a complex and rigorous way of thinking (Dewey, 1933). The process of reflection involves a scope of activities including intellectual efforts, affective engagement, and practical actions (Atkins & Murphy, 1993; Boyd & Fales, 1983; Boud et al., 1985; Finlay, 2008). The process of reflection has been explored by some scholars (Atkin & Murphy, 1993; Bain et al., 2002; Boud et al., 1985; Boyd & Fales, 1983; Dewey, 1933; Gibbs, 1988; Korthagen & Vasalos, 2005; Rodgers, 2002). One of the most well-known models comes from Dewey (1933) and Rodgers (2002), which suggests the process of reflection as four stages: (a) presence to experience, (b) description of experience, (c) analysis of experience, and (d) intelligent action/experimentation.

• Reflection is an active and purposeful engagement aiming at meeting current or future needs (Dewey, 1933; Moon, 1999; Schön, 1983). Reflection is not an aimless inquiry, but rather a voluntary and demanding practice initiated to satisfy personal needs, such as settling down “perplexities” (Dewey, 1933) and “inner discomfort” (Atkins & Murphy, 1993; Boyd & Fales, 1983), gaining new understandings (Boud et al., 1985; Finlay, 2008), improving practice in future situations (Moon, 1999; Schön, 1983), and developing identities (Tracey, & Hutchinson, 2013).

• Reflection requires certain conditions to reach good results. As a complex thinking process, reflection requires not only practitioners’ preparation and efforts (Boyd & Fales, 1983; Dewey, 1933; Rogers, 2001; Schön, 1983), but also external conditions and support (Knight, 1985; Moon, 1999). As a result, the practice of reflection is not a free-thinking with no direction or limitation, it is situated in contexts where individual needs to identify his/her concern (Boyd & Fales, 1983), clarify the purpose or expected outcome (Moon, 1999), make a deliberate decision to inquiry (Rogers, 2001), and take time and effort to participate in the practice (Boud et al., 1985; Dewey, 1933).

• Reflection is a type of thinking that can be trained and improved; reflective practice can be guided to achieve a better outcome (Boyd & Fales, 1983; Dewey, 1933). Dewey (1933) indicated that human is born with natural resources in training thoughts (Dewey, 1910, 1933), reflection as a basis of understanding and responding to one’s experience is nurtured and trained in every practice. it is natural to search for guidance in the use of this type of thought. As Boyd and Fales claimed, once people aware of their reflection processes, they spontaneously gain greater conscious control over it and seek guidance for even more effective use of it (Boyd & Fales, 1983). Meanwhile, experimental studies in various disciplines have demonstrated the practical application and effectiveness of guided reflection (Husu et al., 2008).

Secondly, based on my study on reflection in a group context in the passing one year, I found the following affordances of group reflection. They help justify my inquiry on collaborative reflection.

• Group contexts provide more opportunities for reflection and learning to happen. Group reflection embraces diverse experiences and views, which increases the chance for individuals to encounter surprising or unexpected moments (Dewey, 1933). Once a child’s expectations or predictions are challenged by others, the discrepancy between one’s own and others’ knowledge results in a cognitive conflict (Piaget, 1966). Arguments and intellectual confrontations with others provide opportunities for individuals to encounter such disequilibrium (Wadsworth, 1996). Meanwhile, a group is likely to share different experiences and alternative perspectives, which contributes to collective experiences and reasonings. Accordingly, individuals have more chance to construct more solid and comprehensive understandings based on joint reflection (Yukawa, 2006; Kim & Lee, 2002).

• Group reflection, especially when it is guided by teachers or facilitators, has the potential to assist individuals to achieve what they cannot achieve by themselves alone (Vygotsky, 1987). According to Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, learning occurs when children are exposed to zones of proximal development, where children solve problems beyond their development level with others’ help (Vygotsky, 1987). Reflection in a group has the potential to provide individuals support from more capable or knowledgeable others. For example, one can only recognize his/her misconceptions when he/she is exposed to multiple and contradictory perspectives (Brown & Palincsar, 1989), views from capable others complement the results of individuals' self-perception and provide a better basis for reflection (Eshuis et al., 2019).

• Reflection in a group is not only aligned with the social nature of reflection but also beneficial for promoting individuals’ engagement and motivation. Vygotsky (1978, p. 88) claimed that “human learning presupposes a specific social nature and a process by which [individuals] grow into the intellectual life around them.” Social interaction is a necessary and inextricable part of learning and living from social constructivism and sociocultural theory (King, 1999; Vygotsky, 1978). Although reflection is typically regarded as a solitary mental activity, it is rooted in social interactions and could only be best understood as a social phenomenon (Reynolds, 2017). Therefore, active engagement in reflection requires involvement and responding to others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions. In addition, the present and participant of others increases individuals’ motivation and engagement in reflective practice. For example, Susan (1985) suggested that reflection was most profound when it was done aloud with the aware attention of another person. The presence of others motivates individuals to clarify confusion, identify questions, and reach significant insights (Susan, 1985). Empirical studies demonstrated that students engage more actively and achieve higher performance in social discourse, argument, and interactions (Tenenbaum et al., 2019; Yager et al., 1985).

• Group reflection owns wide-range and long-term effects compared to solitary reflective practice (Castle et al., 1995). Reflection in a community provides not only intellectual and affective support for the one-time practice but also social and communal support for individuals’ development in a specific cultural context (Bandura, 1977; Vygotsky, 1978). As Wadsworth (1996) indicated, “Each child is asked by its culture to adapt not only to the developmental demands of life but also to the expectations of the culture… Education cannot be just about development but must also be about adaptation to the culture.” (Wadsworth, 1996, p. 147). Reflection in groups deepens individuals’ understanding of their social norms and cultural values. Meanwhile, sharing experience and reflection within a community highlights the importance of trusts, which builds a strong emotional base to support on-going and continuous processes of social learning (Peel & Shortland, 2004). In addition, group reflection is more likely to arouse self-awareness on one’s egocentric thoughts compared to solitary reflection (Eshuis et al., 2019). Through the process of observing others’ reflection and comparing with one’s own thoughts, individuals are likely to be more aware of the dynamics of their reflection process (Peel & Shortland, 2004), which might trigger a new level of reflection on their reflective practice.

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References

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