This is the focused analysis of previous occurrences to solve teaching concerns and improve teaching methods. Using reflective thinking can be a useful way of getting learners to analyze their own ideas. It implies an active and constant assessment of a piece of information or belief, the reasons they support the information or belief and other conclusions they can draw by thinking about it. It refers to motivating learners to reflect upon the information they already have and what they still need to acquire and helping them constantly identify ways to minimize the gap throughout the learning process.
In practice, it means that learners need to solve problems and think about how they did it and the problem-solving strategies they utilized in the process. Some fundamental characteristics of utilizing reflective thinking include:
- Ensuring that students get enough time to analyze a question’s all aspects before answering it
- Continually reviewing learning situations to identify what the learners already know, what they should know but don’t, and what they learned from the entire experience
- Providing support to learners and motivating them to analyze and assess their conclusions continually
- Giving students tasks they’re likely to encounter in daily life and motivating them to reflect on how they want to complete them
- Stimulating students’ ability to think reflectively by exposing them to questions that need logical reasoning and supplying evidence
- Guiding students through their thought process by supplying different helpful explanations
- Exposing them to different points of view by encouraging group activities and creating intellectually diverse groups
- Adopting a less structured context by allowing learners to discover what they think is important to their education and relevant
- Encouraging learners to write down their opinions on different matters, give logical and valid explanations for why they hold these opinions, accept opposite viewpoints, and search for weaknesses in their arguments
Using reflective teaching can bring multiple benefits to both teachers and students. Some of these include:
It widens students’ perspectives: By exposing learners to weaknesses in their arguments and opposing viewpoints, teachers encourage them to consider issues with an open mind and be more understanding with individuals who don’t hold similar opinions.
It motivates students to pursue new challenges: Reflecting on what they’re trying to achieve and the reasoning behind their actions can help students gain the encouragement to take on new challenges.
It can help instructors teach new concepts to learners: Engaging with learners and motivating them to exercise reflective thinking can make the teacher’s work more efficient.
