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Critical thinking, reflective writing: learning?

Article Excerpt
Abstract

One of the main roles of educators is to help students become prepared to be active members of a society. To achieve this goal, teachers are encouraged to help students develop the ability to reflect and think critically. Reaction papers are written assignments devoted to doing so. A case study was conducted to explore the relationship between reaction papers, reflective writing, critical thinking and learning. The main findings demonstrate how useful reactions papers are to facilitate learning, reflection and critical thinking.

Introduction

In order to develop reflection and critical thinking, many graduate students are encouraged to write "reaction papers"--also named response or reflective papers- as part of their regular teaching program. A reaction paper is a means to express one's own opinions about the readings in a course that should include "critical, informed, thoughtful, and intelligent responses to the claims that are made in the readings" (Pols, 2001. p.1). According to Gala (2001) the main purpose of this assignment is to stimulate the development of critical thinking. However, writing reaction papers seems to be a very difficult job. Many graduate students are used to writing summaries or at the most reviews about the texts they read. In most public schools, students' opinions are not required in their written assignments at all. Memorisation of information is at the core of the learning situation and the exams are normally the context in which this information is supposed to be tested. As a consequence, it is possible to speculate that many students see writing reaction papers as a purposeless activity because they do not know what to include in a reaction paper. They probably know that they are required to express their ideas, but it is not an easy task. Even if they are asked to reflect on the ideas they have read and make connections; the task does not seem to be easier. However, reflecting and thinking critically are at the core of a reaction paper.

1.1 Research problem: In this pilot case-study research, I explored how one student of a graduate course at the University of Los Andes dealt with the idea of writing "reaction papers" in which she was expected to reflect, critically think and give personal opinions about the ideas expressed in her readings.

1.2 Purpose of this study: The purpose of this pilot research was to find out in what ways reflective writing, through the use of reaction papers, can promote the development of critical thinking and how critical thinking can facilitate the process of learning.

2. Theoretical Framework

2.1 Reflection, critical thinking and reflective writing

The terms reflection and critical thinking can be widely found along the literature. They both refer to a mental capability for analysing, judging,...

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