Student`s Reflective Critical Thinking Importance

Student`s Reflective Critical Thinking Importance

Sasnik N.V.

Russia, Samara region, Tolyatti city

English teacher of Municipal budget Educational Institution

School# 13 named after B. B. Levitsky

 Keywords/ключевые слова: критическое мышление, рефлексивно-рассуждающий, обучающийся, школа, исследование, активный, рефлесия, студент, исследование в действии, общество, общий, обучение на протяжении всей жизни, разноуровневый, решение проблем, коллаборатив

Article text/ содержание: Под критическим мышлением понимают умение анализировать и сопоставлять данные, правильно интерпретировать информацию и применять к существующим обстоятельствам. Рефлексивное критическое мышление-способ мышления, при котором человек ставит под сомнение поступающую информацию, собственные убеждения. Это мышление является закономерным продолжением логических навыков человека. Развитое рефлексивное критическое мышление дает возможность: составлять собственное мнение о происходящем, использовать навыки самообразования, вырабатывать корректную тактику и стратегию поведения, развить умение конструктивно общаться с другими людьми, эффективно решать проблемы и задачи, находить свои и чужие ошибки в рассуждениях, разделять главное и второстепенное. В этой статье материалы и выводы сделаны из опыта на практике с учениками и учителями.

I am a teacher at school. Reflexion and thinking are links with each other. More than thirty years I have had research in Action, students thinking throw teaching process at the lesson.

This article is about how is important student`s reflective critical thinking. We have many years observation that theme but the last 2 years we are faced with these topics in my practice and my research in which I am continuing these topics themes.

The description of reflective thinking: Critical thinking and reflective thinking are often used synonymously.  Critical thinking is used to describe: "... the use of those cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome...thinking that is purposeful , reasoned and goal directed - the kind of thinking involved in solving problems, formulating inferences, calculating likelihoods, and making decisions when the thinker is using skills that are thoughtful and effective for the particular context and type of thinking task. Critical thinking is sometimes called directed thinking because it focuses on a desired outcome." Halpern (1996).

Reflective thinking, on the other hand, is a part of the critical thinking process referring specifically to the processes of analyzing and making judgments about what has happened. Dewey (1933) suggests that reflective thinking is an active, persistent, and careful consideration of a belief or supposed form of knowledge, of the grounds that support that knowledge, and the further conclusions to which that knowledge leads. Learners are aware of and control their learning by actively participating in reflective thinking – assessing what they know, what they need to know, and how they bridge that gap – during learning situations.

In summary, critical thinking involves a wide range of thinking skills leading toward desirable outcomes and reflective thinking focuses on the process of making judgments about what has happened. However, reflective thinking is most important in prompting learning during complex problem-solving situations because it provides students with an opportunity to step back and think about how they actually solve problems and how a particular set of problem solving strategies is appropriated for achieving their goal.

Characteristics of environments and activities that prompt and support reflective thinking: Provide enough wait-time for students to reflect when responding to inquiries. Provide emotionally supportive environments in the classroom encouraging reevaluation of conclusions. Prompt reviews of the learning situation, what is known, what is not yet known, and what has been learned. Provide authentic tasks involving ill-structured data to encourage reflective thinking during learning activities. Prompt students' reflection by asking questions that seek reasons and evidence. Provide some explanations to guide students' thought processes during explorations. Provide a less-structured learning environment that prompts students to explore what they think is important. Provide social-learning environments such as those inherent in peer-group works and small group activities to allow students to see other points of view. Provide reflective journal to write down students' positions, give reasons to support what they think, show awareness of opposing positions and the weaknesses of their own positions.

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, and d) understand their own thinking and learning strategies. How to prompt reflection in middle school kids: It is important to prompt reflective thinking in middle school children to support them in their transition between childhood and adulthood. During this time period adolescents experience major changes in intellectual, emotional, social, and physical development. They begin to shape their own thought processes and are at an ideal time to begin developing thinking, learning, and metacognitive strategies. Therefore, reflective thinking provides middle level students with the skills to mentally process learning experiences, identify what they learned, modify their understanding based on new information and experiences, and transfer their learning to other situations. Scaffolding strategies should be incorporated into the learning environment to help students develop their ability to reflect on their own learning. For example, teachers should model met cognitive and self-explanation strategies on specific problems to help students build an integrated understanding of the process of reflection.  Study guides or advance organizer should be integrated into classroom materials to prompt students to reflect on their learning. Questioning strategies should be used to prompt reflective thinking, specifically getting students to respond to why, how, and what specific decisions are made. Social learning environments should exist that prompt collaborative work with peers, teachers, and experts. Learning experiences should be designed to include advice from teachers and co-learners. Classroom activities should be relevant to real-world situations and provide integrated experiences. Classroom experiences should involve enjoyable, concrete, and physical learning activities whenever possible to ensure proper attention to the unique cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domain development of middle school student. Reflection: A Key Component to Thinking Critically Abstract The ability to think critically is an important trait of all members of society. With today’s multinational, multicultural, complex issues, citizens must be able to sift through large amounts of various data to make intelligent decisions. Thinking critically must be a focus of higher education in order to provide the intellectual training for its students to participate in this world. This qualitative study examined critical reflection through student writing as seen in three different college settings.

Teaching and Learning: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cjsotl_rcacea/vol3/iss1/2 the ability to think critically is an important trait for all members of society. With today ’s multinational, multicultural, complex issues, citizens must be able to sift through large amounts of data to make intelligent decisions. Thinking critically must be a focus of higher education in order to provide the intellectual training for its students to participate in this world. According to Leibowitz (1997) “complex thinking, communication and collaboration will be among the essential process areas for the world as we will know it” (p. 50). Critical thinking is a habit of mind characterized by the comprehensive exploration of issues, ideas, artifacts, and events before accepting or formulating an opinion or conclusion (Rhodes, 2010).

Brock bank and McGill (1998) identify the development of lifelong learning as an individual is one of the purposes of higher education. We posit that lifelong learning takes place through reflection. That is, learning begins with met cognition, knowing one’s own thoughts and reflection, which allows the individual to identify the factors that influence one’s own thinking. Reflective writing focuses learners’ attention on their thinking by asking them to delve into their thoughts about specific topics as well as their individual learning methods. The main purpose of this study was to investigate students’ critical thinking by critically examining their reflective writing assignments. Theoretical Framework Vygotsky (1978) noted that for “the adolescent, to recall means to think” (p. 51). Kozulin recalled that in the introduction to Thought and Language (1986), Vygotsky “perceived psychological development as a dynamic process full of upheavals, sudden changes, and reversals” (p. xxix), a process that requires the learner to stop and think and reflect. We contend that for college students thinking should also mean reflection.

If a student learns to reflect in a math class, the same set of reflective skills or concepts can be used in language arts. As we began to describe to each other the ways in which we were attempting to get students to move beyond the surface of a topic to deeper understanding, we realized we were all using reflective practices. It did not matter whether we were teaching math, occupational therapy, or educational foundations. The skills needed to think critically about the material presented, to reflect upon the information provided, were the same. The concept of reflection crossed disciplines in ways that resulted in our deeper understanding and reflection. This study describes how each of us saw reflection deepen students’ ability to think critically.

Critical reflection involves a critique of the presuppositions on which our beliefs have been built” (p.1). By creating a reflective environment for and with students, the educational experience will lay the foundations of a critically reflective member of the world community. Inquiry Methods the research methodology used in this study was classroom-based educational action research (Angelo, 1991; Elliott, 1991). Part of effective teaching is the ability to reflect on what is happening in the classroom, and to identify any differences in what was planned and what actually occurred. By conducting “systematic, intentional inquiry” within his/her own classroom, the instructor builds a better understanding of his/her own practice (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993, p. 7).

The reading reflections asked students to respond to the same four prompts (see Appendix B) and to make connections to previous knowledge and experiences and also to the resources and information previously discussed in the course. Each discussion board thread was based on a reading or video and expanded upon during class discussions. Finally, working across disciplines, as was done in this study, creates an opportunity for faculty members and researchers in distant places to collaborate to resolve common challenges that they face implementing online learning. Cross-discipline collaboration can be difficult within institutions and our efforts overcame both the cross-discipline and long-distance challenges. Given that we have all become connected through improved communications and the Internet, our research stands as a model for working as educators without borders.

Students would engage different levels of thinking within the same reflection. Future research is needed to determine how the prompts influence the level of thinking. In addition, studies are needed to determine the impact of reflection on student learning. The use of reflective assignments facilitated student engagement in learning. This study found that a variety of reflective assignments engaged students’ self-system, metacognitive, and knowledge systems of thinking.

References or a Selected Reflective Thinking Bibliography:

Book: Moon, J. A. (1999). Reflection in learning and professional development: Theory and practice. London: Kogan Page.

Halpern, D. F. (1996). Thought and knowledge: an introduction to critical thinking (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates.

Selected Article: Lin, X., Hmelo, C., Kinzer, C. K., & Secules, T. J (1999). Designing technology to support reflection, Educational Technology Research & Development,pp. 43-62. 

Angelo, T. A. (1991). Introduction and overview: From classroom assessment to classroom research. In T. A. Angelo & K. P. Cross (Eds.), Classroom research: Early lessons from success (pp. 7-15).

San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Brockbank, A., & McGill, I. (1998). Facilitating reflective learning in higher education. Philadelphia, PA: Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press. Carson, T. (1990). What kind of knowing is critical action research? Theory Into Practice, 29(3), 167-173. http://dx.doi.org/10.

Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (1993). Inside outside: Teacher research and knowledge. New York: Teachers College Press. Elliott, J. (1991). Action research for educational change. Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press.

Gage, J. T. (1986). The teaching of writing: Theory and practice. In A. R. Petrosky & D. Bartholomae (Eds.), the teaching of writing: Eighty-fifth yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education (pp. 8-29).