Understand theories and models of reflection and evaluation
Reflection has become one of the most intigrated word in the field of education. It means devoloping self awareness to better your performances and eventually which will help you to enable growth and development. It focuses on the process of learning. It starts with the difficulties while we learn. A concrete way to understand learning is to go through that process. It needs to be learnt.
There are connections between experience and learning. One must know how to learn from their experiences. The cyclic way from experience to learning gives us a better understanding of reflection. There are a few theories which can give us the idea of what it actually is.
Kolb’s Learning Cycle-
Kolb’s theory consists of four steps.
Step 1-
Concrete Experience- We are getting experiences in our daily life. Whether at home or outside, we often get involved in the experience where we can kick start our learning.
Step 2-
Reflective Observation- The thinking of what we have done or experienced is called reflection. Some people are really good at examining their experiences. The more you can observe the better you can learn. Others who don’t have this skill can develop by practising it.
Step 3-
Abstract Conceptualization- When we describe our experience and try to interpret them we stand into this stage.
Step 4-
Active Experimentation- This cycle is to experiment with those hypotheses that we had learnt in the previous cycle. In this active experimentation the hypothesis will either support you or challenge you.It is not enough just to have experience but you have to learn from it.
Gibb’s Reflective Cycle-
Gibb’s reflective cycle takes us through 6 stages which includes more things like emotion.
It describes the situations. It talks about the situation, surroundings and the way it happened.
It consists of our emotional part. The way it felt when you were into that situation. Your feelings now. We have to differentiate between these two things.
It covers up the experience whether it is good or bad. This stage asks about the importance of that situation. What we need to improve.
Now the analysis part has come where you have to differentiate between two experiences. How this could affect them.
It concludes with what you have learnt and what you will do in the future.
Lastly, if you face the same situation. What you are going to do.
Explains ways in which theories and models of reflection and evaluation can be applied to reviewing yourself.
Reflection is a process in which we all recall our experiences whether it is bad or good and try to evaluate it. There are many definitions but a famous one was said by Boud, Keough and Walker(1985):
“ Those intellectuals and affective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead to new understandings and appreciations.”
Let’s take Gibb’s models to describe my own practice-
As it goes through 6 steps. I will go through all the steps and express myself in the same way.
Step 1- I have to recall the memory of a particular experience which I had been in the past. I am supposed to think about how it happened and why I got into that situation. I should think about the experience and what I was thinking at that moment.
Step 2- Critical thinking is something that you can possess by practising it. Sometimes I might get diverted if emotion is involved with it. I must have considered my feelings when I was in that situation.
Step 3- Another question arrives what if I reacted in a different way at that moment. I could have felt something else. The more I think the more I can evolve.
Step 4- After recalling all those memories now I should analyse it and make a way to become a better version of me. This stage talks about how well we can make improvements. We all know practices make a person better.
Step 5- Once I have gone through all the stages now I have to understand what I have learnt from all the experiences I have gathered. This will help me how I will react in that situation.
Step 6- This challenges our evolution. Once I evolve I can not restrict myself to that place. I have to keep learning to evolve. So if I face the same situation in future I should be able to react in a different way.
Conclusion– It explained different models, processes and theories of learning like theories of communication, models of learning assessment and learning preference, Wilson’s theory, verbal and non verbal communication. All these theories and models helped us to understand what we should do to create a better environment of learning. It also gives us an idea of what needs to be taken care of and how all the theories transform into practical action. Here we learnt how to create a well structured module and implement it into learning. We need to understand what a learner can be capable of doing and have to act according to that. We have to create an environment of healthy learning so that the learners can come up with their flaws and the teacher can help them to improve it.
