A. Objective: What have you learned from reflecting on this particular quote? What has caught your attention?
Merriam, in Learning in Adulthood (2007) uses this quote when introducing critical reflection as a key concept in transformational learning, together with experience and development, since engaging in critical reflection of life’s experiences is a necessary condition for transformation to occur.
I tried to track down the original source in order to gain an understanding of the context in which it was written. The quote is from Costas Criticos paper titled “Experiential learning and social transformation for a post-apartheid learning future” in “Using experience for learning”. Criticos explains “The learning that I experienced was a learning of tension; a tension between contradictory experiences and contradictory explanations of society. The mechanics of this learning resides in the conversation, negotiation and argument that takes place between people or in the internal wrestling over the tension between competing experiences and competing explanations” (Cristos, 1993, p. 157).
Criticos is a white South African, and academic. The struggle to overcome apartheid in South Africa and the process of negotiating a way forward for all involved must have required a huge amount of critical reflection in order to create effective learning from a very negative experience.
Critical reflection can be seen as an extension of the process of critical thinking. It asks us to think about our actions, interactions or ideas and then it challenges us to take a step back and examine our thinking by asking probing questions. It asks us not just to try to understand the past but more importantly it encourages us to contemplate how we will act in the future. According to Learning in Adulthood (Merriam, 2007, p. 146), Brookfield’s model of critical thinking provides an important link between critical reflection and transformative learning.
Brookfield (1987, cited in Merriam, 2007) identified five phases to the process of critical thinking - or critical refection. A trigger event results in feelings of inner discomfort or perplexity; followed by appraisal of the situation and the identification and clarification of concerns. Next is a process of exploration where one seeks a way of explaining or accommodating the experience; and then develop an alternative perspective. Finally integration occurs where this new way of thinking is incorporated into one’s life.
B. Reflective: What did you realize about teaching as a result of this quote?
It is interesting to note how frequently wisdom based on this premise of learning from our mistakes is shared as an essential means to understanding the human condition. “Turn your wounds into wisdom”, Oprah Winfrey; “Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment”, Rita Mae Brown; “Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him”, Aldous Huxley; “By seeking and blundering we learn”, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing” Henry Ford; “More people would learn from their mistakes if they weren't so busy denying them”, Harold Smith; “A strong and well-constituted man digests his experiences (deeds and misdeeds all included) just as he digests his meats, even when he has some tough morsels to swallow ”, Friedrich Nietzsche.
So teaching students to critically reflect and learn from their experiences, both good and bad, has been with us for a very long time, at least 2,500 years since Socrates, the father of western philosophy first expounded the virtue of questioning our beliefs and taken for granted assumptions. As a teacher, my most important role is to encourage students to ask questions – about their experience, about concepts, beliefs or ideas they have come across, and then support them to find the answers for themselves.
C. Interpretive: What was your Aha! moment when you read this quote? In what way(s) did this quote change your mind about being an adult educator? What was one key insight that you now have as a result of this quote?
“Know Thyself” (Socrates)
My initial thoughts when reading the quote on effective learning rising from effective reflection focused on how I as a teacher can help my students to reflect critically. My Aha! moment was turning it around, and thinking about how I as a teacher, need to reflect and learn from both my adventures and misadventures in teaching. Sarah Sansbury in her blog on “Reflection: Crucial for Teachers” puts it like this: ““To err is human” but to reflect is divine” (2011). As a teacher I am human. Yes I get frustrated, and sometimes (not often) lose my temper. I make bad judgment calls and sometimes wish there was a magical rewind button.
As a teacher I am also a learner, and as Socrates famously said “ouk imae idenai, ah mae oido” (the more you know, the more you know you don’t know). These words of wisdom speak a huge amount about my philosophy of teaching, and probably life as well. I need to constantly reflect and learn from my experience as a teacher.
D. Decisional: How has this quote and the insight you have gained from reflecting upon it, influenced your notion of teaching or how you will teach in the future?
“The fatal pedagogical error is to throw answers, like stones, at the heads of those who have not yet asked the question”. Paul Tillich (quoted in Craig, n.d)
I believe the key here is how to promote ‘effective’ reflection, as opposed to ineffective reflection. In my role as a nursing clinical instructor reflection is a large part of the learning process. As I reflected on the Criticos’ quote I sought to find some answers as to how I can help my students to develop their clinical reasoning skills through effective reflection. It is clear that one of the skills a clinical instructor should have is in the art of questioning, which brings me back to Socrates. He taught his students by engaging in dialogues using carefully constructed questions that guided them to discover their own knowledge and beliefs (Wikipedia, n.d). The art of Socratic questioning has been used extensively in medical education, but I had a difficult time finding it discussed specifically in the context of clinical instruction for nurses, however I found a good list of generic questions I can readily use during discussions with my students during the clinical day, in post-conference discussions, and while reviewing their Reflective Journals (See Appendix).
References
Merriam, S., Caffarella, R., & Baumgartner, L. (2007). Learning in adulthood: A
comprehensive guide (3rd ed.). Josse-Bass: USA
Criticos, C. (1993). Experiential learning and social transformation for a post-apartheid
learning future. In D. Boud, R. Cohen and D. Walker (Eds.), Using Experience for
Learning, p. 157). Open University Press: Philadelphia. Retrieved August 15, 2013 from
http://www.questia.com/read/119549093/using-experience-for-learning.
Sansbury, S. (20011). Reflection: Crucial for effective teachers. Retrieved from Teaching
Tolerance website on August 15, 2013 http://www.tolerance.org/blog/reflection-crucial-
effective-teachers
Socrtatic Method Wikipedia (n.d.). Retrieved August 15, 2013 from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_method
Changing Minds (n.d.). Socratic questioning. Retrieved August 15, 2013 from:
http://changingminds.org/techniques/questioning/socratic_questions.htm
Craig, M. (n.d.). Promoting critical thinking in clinical settings. Retrieved August 15, 2013
from:http://ca/hwi.org/resources/PROMOTING%20CRITICAL%20THINKING%20IN%20CLINICAL%20SETTINGS.doc.
Appendix 1: Sample Socratic Questions
Conceptual clarification questions
- Why are you saying that?
- What exactly does this mean?
- How does this relate to what we have been talking about?
- What is the nature of ...?
- What do we already know about this?
- Can you give me an example?
- Are you saying ... or ... ?
- Can you rephrase that, please?
- Another way of looking at this is ..., does this seem reasonable?
- What alternative ways of looking at this are there?
- Why it is ... necessary?
- Who benefits from this?
- What is the difference between... and...?
- Why is it better than ...?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of...?
- How are ... and ... similar?
- What would ... say about it?
- What if you compared ... and ... ?
- How could you look another way at this?
- What else could we assume?
- You seem to be assuming ... ?
- How did you choose those assumptions?
- Please explain why/how ... ?
- How can you verify or disprove that assumption?
- What would happen if ... ?
- Do you agree or disagree with ... ?
- Then what would happen?
- What are the consequences of that assumption?
- How could ... be used to ... ?
- What are the implications of ... ?
- How does ... affect ... ?
- How does ... fit with what we learned before?
- Why is ... important?
- What is the best ... ? Why?
- Why is that happening?
- How do you know this?
- Show me ... ?
- Can you give me an example of that?
- What do you think causes ... ?
- What is the nature of this?
- Are these reasons good enough?
- Would it stand up in court?
- How might it be refuted?
- How can I be sure of what you are saying?
- Why is ... happening?
- Why? (keep asking it -- you'll never get past a few times)
- What evidence is there to support what you are saying?
- On what authority are you basing your argument?
- What was the point of asking that question?
- Why do you think I asked this question?
- Am I making sense? Why not?
- What else might I ask?
- What does that mean?
Source: Changing Minds.org “Socratic Questions”