4 The Research on Reflection

Meet them where they’re at!

While research suggests that a child’s metacognitive ability emerges in early adolescence and continues to expand, a longitudinal study on metacognitive skill and intellectual ability, noted that 15 years old seems to be a significant point of age for developing these skills.²⁹ In writings, Winne, of SRL model fame, refers to students as “learning scientists” and discusses the importance of providing students with opportunity to practice and develop metacognitive skills like reflection,²² as these skills may not necessarily develop without support.³ In addition to needing support to develop the strong reflective skill required for learning, students come with a lot of baggage. Ineffective learners are poor judges of themselves, often overconfident in their abilities, they do not seek help, and frequently deflect mistakes to avoid damaging self-image.²² Effective learners monitor and improve learning strategies as they develop—this requires reflection. Additionally, students often believe that knowledge is binary—you either know it or you don’t. Many fail to recognize that knowledge has multiple levels, sometimes referred to as declarative, procedural, and contextual knowledge. You may be able to recall information, but not know when it would be useful, or how to use it effectively. Winne suggests students need help with three areas: collecting data on how they work through learning and its success rate, creating a bank of metacognitive learning tactics and strategies, and opportunity to practice metacognition until it becomes an automatic process. All of this can be accomplished through reflection!^22,33

But does it work?

That depends. Research showing a positive connection between SRL skill and learning outcomes was already well-established 20 years ago, and more recent meta-analyses investigating SRL supports with digital learning have noted that SRL skill improves academic performance.^16,34 Due in part to the terminology mudpuddle discussed earlier, it is more difficult to find studies specifically investigating reflection and academic outcomes; however, many recent studies investigating metacognition in digital learning for both post-secondary and high school students have shown that more frequent monitoring leads to better academic performance.¹⁷ Results from studies that use the term reflection in investigating learning outcomes have not been a slam dunk. The current batch of research has only found limited positive effect on student performance and learning,⁴ although it is also noted often that reflection is generally well-received by students both as a cathartic activity and in their perception that it aids learning.^6,35,36 These slightly underwhelming results do not mean that reflection is not worth time as a skill for learning (the research on metacognition is robust), but only point to the difficulty in studying student reflection in an academic research setting. In fact, the authors are careful to outline four general limitations in the research.⁵

First, most research only involves the commonplace understanding of reflection as a post-activity support³⁷—this clearly limits the potential of the skill of reflecting to a small part of the learning process, which obviously reduces the impact that could be seen in learning outcomes.¹⁸ Second, reflection is entangled in the larger SRL process, which itself is connected to learner motivation, interest, behaviour, and beliefs. It is incredibly difficult to parse out a single variable for study and assume it can be researched in isolation for its impact. The third common concern is the short duration of most research studies. It is common to mention that a lack of strong positive results may be due to providing insufficient time or instruction that would help students to better understand, use, and appreciate reflective practice in order to see benefits.^4,32,38 And finally, there is the recognition that metacognitive skills are often overlooked in the content area of most courses³³—due to lack of time generally and an already jam-packed curriculum.^5,39 I risk stating the obvious when I summarize that complex things rarely work well when done poorly, quickly, with no training, and with little practice.

Why reflection often fails?

Part of the failure to see strong results stems from the internal and individual nature of reflection itself. This was noted decades ago: “only learners themselves can learn and only they can reflect on their own experiences…at this basic level the learner is in total control.”† Encouraging stuff! As mentioned earlier, most students are unaware of their internal thought processes—they are unlikely to have the language of metacognition or SRL—which makes reflecting difficult and success unpredictable (and that’s if they are motivated and interested to try). For most students, reflection occurs most commonly within normal life situations in sports, friendships, hobbies—post-activity, self-directed, outside of school, and away from teachers. Students may not see reflection as necessary or meaningful in a school setting where control of their learning rests firmly in the tight-fisted hand of their nearest teacher. It may also be too much mental gymnastics for students new to reflective practice to simultaneously work on a thing (cognitive load) and monitor their work on that thing (metacognitive load).¹ But it isn’t all the fault of the student (darn it!). Research shows that educators may not have a detailed understanding of reflection, or the skills associated to teach and assess student reflections effectively,³⁹ and often assume some level of reflective thought is present in students because it is such a familiar (to adults) process. Without the clarity of strong instruction, reflective practices are likely to be ineffectual and superficial.^31,32 So, I guess we have some work to do too.