Reflective thinking involves experiencing something, thinking about what happened, and learning from the experience. It is a process of self-awareness, self-improvement, and empowerment. Two key models of reflective learning are Kolb's learning cycle, which involves experiencing, reflecting, thinking, and testing ideas, and Schon's model of reflection-in-action during an experience and reflection-on-action afterwards. Reflective thinking leads to better understanding of strengths and weaknesses as well as identification of areas for improvement.

1. Reflective Thinking
Prepared by:
Arindam Bhattacharjee
Research intern at IIM Kozhikode
MBA 1st year, NIT Rourkela

2. Definition
Experience something.
Think about what happened.
Learn from the experience;
that’s reflective thinking.

3. An example
Have you ever missed the bus and then thought next
time I’ll leave the house 5 minutes earlier?
This is an example of you being reflective: you thought
about an experience and decided to learn from it and do
something different the next time.

4. Reflection is…
Self-awareness
• Thinking of yourself, your experiences and your view of
the world.
Self-improvement
• Learning from experiences and wanting to improve some
area of your life.
Empowerment
• Putting you in control of making changes and behaving in
a different way.

5. Models of reflective learning
Models
Kolb’s
learning cycle
Schon’s model

6. Kolb’s learning cycle
• It has four elements in a loop and it usually starts with experience.
Experience
Observations
and reflections
Development
of ideas
Testing ideas
in practice

7. Kolb’s learning cycle
Experience
Doing it
Observations
and
reflections
Reviewing and
reflecting on
the experience
Development
of ideas
Learning from
the experience
Testing ideas
in practice
Planning,
trying out what
you have
learned

8. Examples of using Kolb’s learning cycle
• Experience
You give a 5 minute presentation in class and received low marks for
presentation style.
• Observations and reflections
You over ran the 5 minutes and kept forgetting what you wanted to say.
• Development of ideas
You spoke to your lecturer and the Learning Skills tutor to get some
advice on presentation techniques. You noted down some ideas on how
to prepare differently next time.
• Testing ideas in practice
You prepared your presentation in advance. You had some notes to refer
to. You practiced delivering your presentation within 5 minutes.

9. Schon’s model
Reflection in action Reflection on action
•Experiencing
•Thinking on your feet
•Thinking about what to do next
•Acting straight away
•Thinking about something that has happened
•Thinking what you would do differently next
time
•Taking your time
Schon presented the concept of 'reflection in action' and 'reflection on
action':

10. Schon’s model: Examples
• Reflection in action
• You are in a lecture and keep being distracted by thinking about what to have for lunch!
• You want to get the most from the lecture so need to find a way to help you focus.
• You decide to start making some notes of the key points.
• Reflection on action
• You notice that sometimes after a lecture you can’t remember what was covered.
• You find out about the lecture topic in advance and write down some questions you want
answered.
• You make notes during the lecture to help you focus.
• You arrange to go for a coffee after the lecture and talk with your peers about what was
presented, to help you understand and form your own opinions.
• You file your lecture notes and any handouts.

11. Reflection leads to…
NOTE Better understanding of our strengths
and weaknesses.
Acknowledgement of our fears.
Identification of possible inadequacies
or areas for improvement.

12. References:
• www.wikipedia.com,
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Reflective_thinking,accessed on
20th May 2017.
• http://learn.solent.ac.uk/mod/book/tool/print/index.php?id=27
32, accessed on 20th May 2017.
• http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/medicine/reflect
ive/3.xml, accessed on 20th May 2017.

13. THANKS