REFLECTIVE LEARNING IN

MATHS AND SCIENCE

Tarisai Chanetsa BSc (UZ), PGCE (UJ), BEd, Hons (UJ), MEd (UJ)

What did you get?

• In groups of four share your answers.

• If there are any differences, explain to your group members how you obtained your answer.

• What is the correct answer?

Feedback

• Were there any differences in your answers?

• Did you agree or disagree with other members?

• Were there multiple approaches to solving the problem?

• Did any of the group members realise a mistake in their working?

Reflection

• The image of something (cambridge dictionary)

• Looking at a process

• Stepping back and looking in

Reflective learning

• Reflective learning is a way of allowing students to step back from their learning experience to help them develop critical thinking skills and improve on future performance by analysing their experience. This type of learning, which helps move the student from surface to deep learning, can include a range of activities, including self-review, peer review. (https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/lets/toolkit/learning/reflective)

Reflective learning

Reflective learning is the process of

internally examining and exploring an

issue of concern, triggered by an

experience, which creates and

clarifies meaning in terms of self, and

which results in a changed conceptual

perspective. (Boyd, Fales, 1983)

Why Reflective learning? • Learning from experience

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Learning does not take place without actively thinking about experiences. Reflection moves us from experience to understanding.

Why reflective learning?

• People learn best through experience

• We retain 75% of what we do compared to 5% of what we hear (realty works, experiential learning technology)

• Kolbe`s cycle of learning

Experiential Learning Cycle (Kolbe, 1984)

How does one reflect? Think about your thinking

(metacognition)

• In action- think about the activity whilst you are carrying it out

• On action- think about the process that has occurred

• With a coach

Guided reflection

• With a coach • Assist learners to reflect on their learning experiences

by: • encouraging students to develop argumentation skills • supporting students to explain and articulate their

thinking • engaging students in evaluating different methods and

strategies • getting students to justify, compare and contrast

solutions • probing student thinking • allowing for individual thinking time

Ask key questions:

• What do you notice? • What does this make you wonder? • What is the same and what is different? • How did you get that? • How do you know that? • How would you approach the problem? • How can you simplify…? • What steps are involved in…? • What is another way…? (http://seniorsecondary.tki.org.nz/Mathematics-and-statistics/Pedagogy/Reflective-thought-and-action)

Reflect on this problem

• As a learner

• How did you arrive at your answer?

• Was there another way to obtain the answer?

• Where might you use what you have learnt from this problem?

Reflect on this problem

• As an educator/ facilitator

• Did the presentation of this problem encourage reflection?

Think about the learning process (Odafe)

• The thoughts the student has before, after and during a lesson

• The student carries out a self-assessment of study habits, classroom participation and interactions

• The student makes an oral presentation of what was covered in the previous lesson (recap)

The Science Classroom

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• “Hands on and minds on” (Lemmer, DuToit, 2010)

Investigative learning

• Teacher demonstrations.

• Learners conducting guided (recipe)experiments.

• Experimental write ups.

• Experimental Design: learner projects and science expos.

Teacher demonstrations Predict, Observe, Explain (POE)

• Is it possible to burn a metal?

• Predict what happens when a flame is brought into contact with magnesium metal.

• Observe the teacher demonstration

• Explain what happened (reflect)

Guided experiments

• Learners follow a stepwise recipe on how to answer an investigative question.

• What factors affect the rate of dissolution of corenza C?

• Learners then have to explain their findings (reflect on the process undergone)

Experimental Write Ups

• Aim

• Hypothesis

• Apparatus

• Method

• Observations

• Conclusions

Projects and Expos

• Learners pose an investigative question (can be on a topic in the curriculum)

• Learners hypothesise

• Learners use trial and error to discover information

• They take decisions, revisit, redo, question, seek assistance

• Learners analyse, draw conclusions and communicate their findings.

In conclusion

• Reflective learning brings experiences into understanding

• Proven through constructivist theories

• Issues in Maths and Science in South Africa