Reflection is a daily practice that allows individuals to evaluate experiences to enhance decision-making and professional growth. John Dewey's concepts of experiential learning and Donald Schön's distinctions between reflection in action and reflection on action emphasize the importance of both immediate and retrospective thinking in learning. Engaging in reflection can significantly impact various fields, particularly in critical scenarios like health professions, improving responses and outcomes.

1. Reflection
in and on
Action

2. Reflection
 Reflection is something a
person can do every day.
 It involves thinking about
your experiences,
considering them and
evaluating them to learn
and make better decisions.
 Reflective Practice means
deliberately using reflection
to learn and improve.

3. John Dewey
 John Dewey was one of the
great psychologists of the
20th Century.
 He first explored how
experiences, interactions,
and reflection helped
learning.

4. Experiential Learning
 David A. Kolb and Ronald E. Fry developed a reflective
model influenced by John Dewey and another
psychologist, Jean Piaget.
 Their work focused on experiential learning, or
transforming information from experiences into new
knowledge.
 Reflective learning happens when a practitioner reflects
on a new experience and gains a general
understanding, then tests that general understanding in
a new situation.

5. Donald Schön
 Donald Schön wrote
The Reflective Practitioner.
 This book was very
influential, asking:
 How do people handle work
issues, decisions, and
improve with practice?

6. Becoming a Professional
 Schön argued that a person
grows as a professional when he
or she starts to observe their
actions in retrospect, or in the
moment, through a critical
‘lens’.
 Using a professional lens means
deliberately considering actions,
knowledge, and possible
solutions or outcomes to
different professional situations.
 In this way a new professional
becomes more deliberate in
decisions and actions.

7. Kinds of reflective practice
Schön defined two kinds of
reflection:
Reflection in Action
Reflection on Action

8. Reflection in Action
Involves thinking and acting in the
moment:
 What existing knowledge or experience
will help me right now?

9. Reflection on Action
Involves thinking back about our past
actions:
 How can I change what I do,
professionally, considering what I did
before?
 Can be written or simply thought about,
hours, days or even years after the actions
being considered

10. Reflection in Action - Examples
 Here are some examples of Reflecting in Action
from popular culture:
 In Apollo 13, when the oxygen
tanks are damaged, the astronauts
have only minutes to set up their
lunar module, Aquarius, as a
lifeboat.
 Meanwhile, engineers in Houston
also have hours or even minutes to
decide quickly the choices that will
help the crew come home.

11. Reflection in Action - Examples
 In Legally Blonde, Elle Woods
is asked at the last minute to
represent a criminal
defendant.
 She uses her new legal skills,
and her existing knowledge of
hair care, to win a court case.

12. Reflection in Action - Examples
 Harry Potter went into the
‘Tri-Wizard Tournament’ in
The Goblet of Fire with only a
little knowledge about dragons,
and had to ‘think on his feet’.
 Harry is not the most skilled
person in the competition.
He survives through his wits –
his ability to use new knowledge
rapidly.

13. Most popular heroes reflect in action:

14. Reflection on Action
Reflection on action, by contrast, is something
we are more likely to read in a novel.
Reflecting on action means deeply considering
past decisions and what could have been
done differently.
In short, reflecting in action involves decision
making in the present. Reflecting on action
involves considering the past for future use.

15. Reflection on Action - Examples
 At the end of the Hunger Games and Harry
Potter series, characters consider their past
actions and what might have been done
differently – rather than what to do immediately.

16. How can reflecting make a
difference in real life?
 In the “Miracle on the
Hudson”, pilot “Sully”
Sullenberger had just 208
seconds to land his plane
safely in the Hudson River.
 Sully decided in seconds
which tasks he should take,
and which his copilot should
take.
 Every passenger survived the
emergency landing because
of their quick thinking.

17. Reflection in the Health Professions
 Reflection is also very important to health professionals. On TV shows
from M.A.S.H. to ER, to Grey’s Anatomy, health professionals – especially
doctors, nurses, paramedics – can be shown reflecting on action, about
their careers and lives – but especially reflecting in action, when minutes
or seconds count to save a life, resolve an injury, or provide critical care.

18. Summary
 Reflection is a learned skill anyone can practice to help
learn better at school, work and even favorite pastimes.
 Reflecting in action involves decision making in the present.
Reflecting on action involves considering the past.
 To reflect in action, you can ask – “What existing knowledge
or experience will help me right now, to make the best
decision?”
 To reflect on action, you can ask – “How can I change the
way I do things, and make better decisions, considering
what I did before?”