Reflective thinking was introduced by John Dewey in 1910 as a process to improve learning. It involves actively analyzing past experiences and knowledge to make judgments. Reflective thinking helps learners develop higher-order thinking skills by prompting them to relate new knowledge to prior understanding, think abstractly, apply strategies flexibly, and understand their own thinking. For reflective thinking to be effective, teachers must allocate time for reflection, facilitate analyzing experiences, and encourage sharing insights with others. Critical thinking is a related concept involving purposeful, reasoned thinking to solve problems and make decisions. It includes reflective thinking as the process of analyzing and judging what has occurred.

3. University of Baghdad
Collage of Education / Ibn Rushed for Human Sciences
Department of English
M.A. Study
significance of analytical and reflective thinking in higher
education
A Week Papers
Submitted by:
M.A Candidate : Akram J. N. Nasser
Methods Of Teaching English
Supervisor by Asst. Prof. Dr.
Elaf Riyadh
2020 H.A 1441 A.H

5. Reflective Teaching
Origin The concept "reflective thought" was introduced
by John Dewey in 1910 in his "How We Think", a work
designed for teachers. Dewey's most basic assumption
was that learning improves to the degree that it arises out
of the process of reflection. As time went on, terminology
concerning reflection proliferated, spawning a host of
synonyms, such as "critical thinking," "problem solving,"
and " higher level thought.“
Reflective Teaching The processes of analyzing and
making judgments about what has happened. Dewey
(1933) suggests that reflective thinking is an active,
persistent, and careful consideration of a belief or
supposed form of knowledge, of the grounds that support
that knowledge, and the further conclusions to which
that knowledge leads.

6. Reflective thinking helps learners develop higher-
order thinking skills by prompting learners to.
a) relate new knowledge to prior understanding.
b) think in both abstract and conceptual terms
c) apply specific strategies in novel tasks.
d) understand their own thinking and learning
strategies.

7. Guidelines for Its Effective Use
1. Allocate sufficient time for reflection. Time must be
considered in planning the learning activity.
2. Schedule a short briefing activity so as to recapture
the experience and think about it.
3. The teacher serves as the facilitator and guide in
developing skills in analyzing a past learning
experience.
4. Encourage the students to recount the experience
to others, thereby strengthening the insights gained.
5. Attend to feelings especially the positive and
pleasant ones.
6. Evaluate the experience in the light of the learner’s
intent. Guidelines for Effective Use

9. Critical thinking
Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined
process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing,
applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating
information gathered from, or generated by,
observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or
communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its
exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual
values that transcend subject matter divisions, clarity,
accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound
evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth and fairness.

10. Critical thinking can be seen as having two components:
1) a set of information and belief generating and
processing skills.
2) the habit, based on intellectual commitment, of
using those skills to guide behaviour. It is thus to be
contrasted with:-
1) the mere acquisition and retention of
information alone, because it involves a particular
way in which information is sought and treated.
2) the mere possession of a set of skills, because it
involves the continual use of them.
3) the mere use of those skills (“as an exercise”)
without acceptance of their results.

11. Critical Thinking and Reflective Thinking
Critical thinking and reflective thinking are often used
synonymously. Critical thinking is used to describe:-
It use of those cognitive skills or strategies that
increase the probability of a desirable
outcome…thinking that is purposeful, reasoned and
goal directed – the kind of thinking involved in solving
problems, formulating inferences, calculating
likelihoods, and making decisions when the thinker is
using skills that are thoughtful and effective for the
particular context and type of thinking task. Critical
thinking is sometimes called directed thinking
because it focuses on a desired outcome.” Halpern
(1996).

12. Reflective thinking, on the other hand, is a part of the
critical thinking process referring specifically to the
processes of analyzing and making judgments about
what has happened. Dewey (1933) suggests that
reflective thinking is an active, persistent, and careful
consideration of a belief or supposed form of
knowledge, of the grounds that support that
knowledge, and the further conclusions to which that
knowledge leads. Learners are aware of and control
their learning by actively participating in reflective
thinking – assessing what they know, what they need
to know, and how they bridge that gap – during
learning situations.