Hi
I have read all the response with interest and would like to add my own findings to the thread.
Reflective Practice is the process of observation, assessment and critical evaluation of yourself or your colleagues to monitor and improve practice. Reflective practice is one of 2 key ingredients for ongoing professional development along with keeping up to date with knowledge and skills. Ongoing professional development is very important to Early Years professionals, due to changes to policies, procedures and research that can lead to new knowledge on child development or learning strategies.
The process of reflection can appear to be a daunting one. We are fortunate that there are several theorists who have studied reflection and created processes to help us reflect and develop.
David Kolb published his learning cycle model in 1984. The cycle consists of 4 processes that Kolb believes needs to take place for effective learning.
1. Concrete experience
This is taking part in an event or activity, for example teaching a phonics session.
2. Reflective observation
Here you review and reflect on the experience. Did all the children engage well with the activity? Did the session flow well? Were they any elements that didn’t work and why?
3. Abstract conceptualisation
Use your reflections to develop new ideas.
4. Active experimentation
Try out your new ideas.
The process is a cycle as once we have tried out these new ideas, we need to reflect on them.
One of David Kolb’s most famous quotes is ““Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience”
Going through Kolb’s learning cycle helps us to transform our experience into knowledge.
Graham Gibbs created a more structured and detailed reflective cycle, inspired by Kolb’s learning cycle. Gibbs cycle enables us to reflect on incidents and occurrences and how the practitioner has responded to these events.
The major difference between Gibbs cycle and Kolb’s is that Gibbs model acknowledges that personal feelings can influence a situation. Gibbs cycle has 6 stages compared to Kolb’s 4.
After an incident or occurrence, which could be positive or negative, the practitioner goes through the following 6 stages.
1. Description
What happened?
2. Feelings
What were you thinking and feeling at the time?
3. Evaluation
What was good or bad about the experience?
4. Analysis
What sense can you make of what happened?
5. Conclusion
What can you conclude from this?
6. Action plan
Adapt the way you work
In 1993 Phil Race, a British educational and training developer revealed a new and innovative model of learning, “the ripples model of learning”.
The thing that makes this model unique from other reflective “cycles” is that it is not a cycle at all, but 4 processes that interact with each other like ripples on a pond. Each process influences and pushes the next, the ripples intersect with each other.
Race’s model is like Kolb’s in that they are both experiential learning models. Experiential learning is the process of learning through experience or more simply learning by doing. Where Race and Kolb differ is that Race has identified a new element in the learning process, motivation. A person needs to want to learn to be able to learn.
The 4 processes that need to take place for effective learning according to Race are:
1. Needing/Wanting – Motivation
2. Doing – Practice, trial and error
3. Feedback – Seeing the results, other people’s responses/reactions
4. Digesting – Making sense of it, gaining ownership
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