Chapter 5: Reflection Models
Reflection models are usually cyclical or process-oriented. Learners can go through the cycle many times during a course as they accumulate new ways of seeing course concepts and interacting with community partners and peers. In this way, reflection assessments help students make connections and develop their understandings.
There are numerous reflection models that your instructor might use or that you might read about in the scholarly literature. We have selected three for inclusion in the Pressbook.
What? So What? Now What?
The simplest reflection model is called “What? So What? Now What?” This model leads the learner through a process that evaluates how and why the experience has changed the learner and what this change will bring about in their next experience.
Example: What? So What? Now What?
Below is an image depicting the “What? So What? Now What?” model. Click on the plus [+] icons at each step to learn more about what happens at each phase of the process.
David A. Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle
David Kolb’s foundational theory focuses on the importance of the experiential learning cycle as he defined it: Act, Reflect, Conceptualize, Apply.
This theory recognizes that an experience itself is not sufficient to produce learning. Rather, the experience works with the student’s knowledge base, other course materials, discussions, and reflections to support authentic learning.
Although Kolb’s model starts with Act, some courses and programs begin with Conceptualize in order to allow students to gather and work with classroom knowledge before they undergo the experiential learning opportunity.
Example: Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle
Below is an image depicting the steps in Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle. When reviewing this cycle, please consider the following scenario:
A group of science students in a pharmacology class is tasked with creating an elementary school lesson to teach children about Lake Ontario water quality in advance of the summer school holiday.
Click on the plus [+] icons at each step to learn more about how Kolb’s model might apply in this scenario.
Mary Ryan’s 4Rs Framework
Mary Ryan’s 4Rs Framework provides an easy-to-remember reflection model that leads students toward understanding and applying their experiential learning. It provides stepping stones for the process by starting with simpler forms of observation and feeling (Reporting and Responding) and then moving to apply these observations and feelings to existing structures of knowledge or understanding (Relating). The next two stages encourage the learner first to apply intellectual and theoretical conceptualizations to their experience (Reasoning) and finally to synthesize the learning into a plan of action or a new mode of thinking (Restructuring).
Like the other reflection models we review, Ryan’s approach breaks down the learning process into several stages that help students build toward a new or larger understanding of the experience and the course material. These steps help learners make the best use of their experiences by emphasizing the process over the product and the growth in understanding over the accumulation of facts.
Example: Ryan’s Reflection Prompts
Turn over the cards below for examples of reflection prompts following Mary Ryan’s 4R framework. Use the next [>] and back [<] arrows to navigate between the four cards.
Summary: Reflection Models in Community-Engaged Learning
In your community-engaged courses, you will use these kinds of models instead of or alongside traditional assignments or assessments. If you take the time to dig deep and engage with the reflective process, you will enjoy more robust learning and greater engagement in the course materials.
Think of a volunteer and/or community experience you have had in the past and consider the following questions. When you are finished, click on the icon in the top left corner of this activity (i.e., the icon with three horizontal lines) and select “Download My Answers” to submit and download a copy of your responses.
