"The story is told of a man in slight repute for intelligence, who, desiring to be chosen selectman in his New England town, addressed a knot of neighbors in this wise: "I hear you don't believe I know enough to hold office. I wish you to understand that I am thinking about something or other most of the time." Now reflective thought is like this random coursing of things through the mind in that it consists of a succession of things thought of ; but it is unlike, in that the mere chance occurrence of any chance "something or other" in an irregular sequence does not suffice. Reflection involves not simply a sequence of ideas, but a consequence -- a consecutive ordering in such a way that each determines the next as its proper outcome, while each in turn leans back on its predecessors. The successive portions of the reflective thought grow out of one another and support one another; they do not come and go in a medley. Each phase is a step from something to something -- technically speaking, it is a term of thought. Each term leaves a deposit which is utilized in the next term. The stream or flow becomes a train, chain, or thread." John Dewey, from How We Think (D.C. Heath, 1910), pp. 2-3.
Before turning to the article by Elizabeth Davis, and Josh's presentation, we should ask in what we think "reflection" consists, to what is it opposed, and whether/why we think it so desirable in education. Is your sense of "reflective thought" the same as Dewey's? Does the etymology of the term suggest ways to augment Dewey's definition(s)? What educational experiences have you had that seemed to inspire reflection, as opposed to mere memorization?
A recent issue of Computers in Human Behavior (the TOC of which is in the handout) includes research about the impact of IT on education. What is interesting and different about the research is that the focus is no longer on the flexibility and choices that networked computers make possible, but rather on the ways computer- mediated activities might lead to different/better/deeper understanding. Although none of the findings are especially conclusive, nearly all the authors call for further studies about the impact of human-computer interactions on thinking in educational settings.
"Prompting Middle School Science Students for Productive Reflection: Generic and Directed Prompts," by Elizabeth Davis.
We'll turn now to the Davis paper and Josh's outline. Was there anything surprising in either the methods or findings of the paper, and when/how does your program attempt to "prompt" reflection?
For Tuesday: Thursday's class is cancelled to allow you to spend more time on production, and we'll reconvene on Tuesday for the first of the prototype presentations.