Using Students' Reflective Writing Journal To Develop Critical Thinking Skills, Among Al hussein Bin Talal University Students'

Abstract

Teachers are nowadays looking at students becoming active thinkers In the classroom .To get them to think and use their minds one must use strategies That help them to do so. One of the ways to get students, to become critical Thinkers is through reflective writing. Research has shown that careful structuring Of reflective writing and effective feedback can develop students critical thinking Skills (Peirce, 2005;Baker, 1996). Reflective writing involves a person in active questioning and accepting or Rejecting what is experienced or communicated. It involves linking the new information With their prior knowledge and generating new understandings and knowledge as a result. One of the ways to develop critical thinking skills among students is using joumals. Student joumals are used extensively in university contexts as a means of facilitating Reflection, deepening personal understanding and stimulating critical thinking (Ballantyne &Packer, 1995). (Surbeck, Han & Moyer, 1991) Stated that student joumals can help Students become better thinkers who probe deeper into both professional literature and Their own … ideas and actions (p. 27). (Walker, 1985) showed that student joumals are Highly rated as a means of facilitating reflection integrating theory and practice (Ballantyne & Packer, 1995), stimulating critical thinking and other higher levels of Leaning (Hettich, 1990), and examining and evaluating held beliefs and concepts (Wodlinger, 1990) The aim of the reflective jounal is to use the writing process as an effective means to Facilitate students' critical thinking about the aspects of course content, issues, and group Dynamics. So getting students to write more is the best, and perhaps the easiest, way to Enhance critical thinking. Writing forces students to organize their thoughts and think Critically about the material.