Student Reflective Thinking Research Articles

Getting Started With Debriefing for Meaningful Learning

Debriefing for Meaningful Learning© (DML) is a method of debriefing that can be used in simulation environments and other clinical settings to foster student's reflective thinking and learning. It has been used successfully with prelicensure nursing students, graduate nursing students, and interdisciplinary health care students throughout the nursing curriculum with positive learning outcomes. This method can be challenging to learn because it uses Socratic questioning and principles of active learning to uncover thinking associated with actions, but once learned, DML can be a model for reflective thinking that students can use to develop clinical reasoning and become reflective practitioners. Moreover, DML challenges taken-for-granted assumptions in an iterative yet consistent process of group dialog that students can use long into their practice. This article describes how faculty can get started using DML and demonstrates the iterative process of the method with examples from simulation debriefing.

Evidence of reflective thinking across the curriculum: college experience versus individual courses

This study investigated how individual and course-level variables across the curriculum at a four-year college (college here refers to a higher education institution that offers undergraduate education but not graduate degrees) in the southeastern US impacted student reflective thinking as measured by Kember and colleagues' [2000. Development of a questionnaire to measure the level of reflective thinking. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 25(4): 381–395] scale. The measure includes four constructs: (1) non-thinking (i.e., habitual action), (2) understanding, (3) reflection, and the deepest level (4) critical reflection. The construct of understanding – students' assessment of their thoughtful use of knowledge – was the only measure that increased with credit hours completed. Students (n = 802) reported more thinking to comprehend in science courses compared to business and humanities courses. An interaction of subject areas and gender showed that males reported more reflection in business courses than the humanities or science courses, and females reported the opposite (i.e., more reflection in humanities and science courses and less in business courses). All students, and especially older ones, were more likely to report thinking habits as the result of an overall college experience than from an individual course. A small set (6.23%), however, who did not report reflecting critically as the result of college did indicate that the current course prompted them to do so. Deeper habits of thinking were reported in students who were awarded course credit for participation and for those enrolled in courses taught by more experienced faculty.

Omnipresent Learning via Interactive Media

Teaching an undergraduate nursing research course in an accelerated, seven-week format challenges instructors to engage students and impart research skills in a narrow timeframe. Student engagement is essential to the learning process; however, educators must foster nursing students' reflective thinking abilities. Digital storytelling is used to increase student engagement and reflective thinking, but nursing literature shows little research in this area. In this study, the instructors facilitated discussion board activities and digital storytelling and then evaluated the participation in these active learning strategies. The data showed a perceptive increase in student satisfaction and reflective thinking.

A pilot study evaluation of student reflective thinking in a doctor of nursing practice program

Background: The purpose of this pilot study was to describe and explain how faculty operationalized, implemented and evaluated progression in reflective thinking as a key student transformational learning outcome in a newly created doctor of nursing practice (DNP) program. Methods: In this pilot study, study participants (N=7) were full-time DNP students, with six having a nurse practitioner background. The key concepts of reflective thinking and transformational learning were operationalized through the use of a structured learning ePortfolio and a Reflective Writing Assignment that students completed at both mid- and end-of- program. Faculty gave students feedback using a Reflective Thinking Rubric. To measure progression in students’ reflective thinking, a paired samples t -test was conducted to compare faculty ratings of students’ Reflective Writing Assignments using the rubric from mid- to end-of-program. Results: Results demonstrated a significant difference in Reflective Thinking Rubric scores from mid- (M=1.9, SD=0.47) to end-of-program (M=2.5, SD=0.34); t = 4.11, p =.01, indicating a positive progression in students’ transformative reflective thinking and learning. Conclusion: Through attention to student reflective thinking and learning, the development of communities of inquiry are encouraged that are so important to the continued development of nursing knowledge and practice. Thus, structures, processes and teaching strategies that support transformational reflective thinking are important educational design components that deserve continued research.

Ethics and professionalism: Bringing the topic to life in the classroom

Abstract Much attention has been focused in recent years on the benefits of enhancing student understanding of ethical perspectives and professionalism in the workplace. An ongoing challenge for accounting educators is the need to address ethics in a way that will hold student interest, especially when most students have yet to experience an ethical situation in a work setting. We have developed a classroom game that incorporates the Institute of Management Accountants’ (IMA’s) Statement of Ethical Professional Practice, a newly revised model of ethical conduct. In this game, students identify how the IMA’s standards and principles are either upheld or violated in mini-case scenarios from workplace settings. The game facilitates student reflective thinking – a learning process where an individual addresses a problem that has many reasonable solutions rather than just one answer. The approach was introduced in managerial and cost accounting courses and has been employed also in an intermediate accounting setting. Feedback suggests that the game holds student interest, fosters reflective thinking, and can be used across multiple courses.

Studying the Impact of Web-Based Learning (Weblog) With a Problem Solving Approach on Student's Reflective Thinking

The aim of this research is studying the effect of web- based learning(weblog) by problem solving approach on English Literature student's reflective thinking, who study in Islamic Azad University of Ardebil. Required data for this study was gathered through reflective thinking questionnaire -designed by Camber et al on the basis of Maziro's Theory- in pretest and posttest form, for the two experimental and control groups each consisting of 15 students. Analyzing the gained data showed that there was significant difference between the two experimental and control groups regarding the level of thinking about the three categories of understanding, reflection, and critical reflection, and it was significant in T-test at level 0.05 and this shows that the weblog based learning affects on the development of student's reflective thinking.

Critical reflective thinking through service‐learning in multicultural teacher education

This paper describes and discusses the effect of service‐learning on students’ reflective thinking about their own knowledge in multicultural teacher education at a state university in Southern California (USA). Two versions of students’ multicultural autobiographies, one at the beginning and the other at the end of the course, were examined to determine their individual progress. Two classes, one with a service‐learning assignment and the other without, were involved to identify differences. Using King and Kitchener’s model of reflective judgment, this study compares and contrasts the progress of student critical reflective thinking and differences between the two classes. The research suggests that service‐learning stimulated and increased students’ reflective thinking about their own knowledge in multicultural education.

Refleksyvaus mąstymo skatinimas mokant svetimosios kalbos (anglų)

Refleksyvus mąstymas – tai mąstymas giliau ir atidžiau, tai yra probleminių situacijų sprendimas apgalvojant ir analizuojant kiekvieną detalę ar klausimą. Pagrindinė tyrimo hipotezė: svetimosios kalbos autonominės studijos skatina refleksyvųjį mąstymą, kai studentams suteikiama galimybė prisiimti atsakomybę už savo studijas. Studijose akcentuojamas refleksyvus mąstymas ir praktinės patirties savianalizė. Po kiekvienos sesijos atliekamas mokymo ir mokymosi įvertinimas, kurio tikslas - gauti grįžtamąjį ryšį ir tobulinti mokymosi procesą. Visi besimokančiųjų pasiekimai kaupiami „portfelyje". Jame savo komentarus ir vertinimus pateikia dėstytojas ar „mentorius“. „Portfeliu" remiasi ir baigiamasis įvertinimas. Atliktas tyrimas rodo, kad studentai turi būti skatinami prisiimti atsakomybę už savo studijas ir savarankiškai registruoti savo mokymosi pažangą. Kuo daugiau studentams suteikiama atsakomybės, tuo labiau jie yra pasirengę autonominėms studijoms. Pažymėtina, kad dizainas stipriai koreliuoja su atsakomybe (p= .000; r= .422**) ir su motyvacija (p = .000; r = .529**). Vadinasi, mokymosi aplinka turi įtakos studentų motyvacijai ir atsakomybės jausmui. Atlikus tyrimą, galima tvirtinti, kad struktūrizacijos būtinybę išreiškia maždaug pusė studentų. Gera mokymosi proceso struktūra rodo stiprų koreliacinės struktūros ir motyvacijos (p = .000; r = .308**), mokymosi aplinkos (p = .008; r = .218**) ir dėstytojo intervencijos būtinumo (p= .000; r = .502**) ryšį, kiek silpnesnė atskleista koreliacija su atsakomybe (p= .018; r = .196*). Vadinasi, gerai struktūrizuotas mokymosi procesas neskatina studentų prisiimti atsakomybės už savo studijas bei stabdo refleksyvųjj mąstymą.