In this essay I will present two theorists, Dewey and Mezirow, and their perspectives on reflection, as well as my own thoughts, agreements, and differences.
Reflective though started to form back in the 20th century, when philosopher and educator John Dewey published his book How we think in 933. Dewey claimed that we cannot tell someone how to think, but we can certainly tell someone in which way to think. Although confusing at first, he then goes on to explain the better way of thinking and defines this as reflective thinking. In his mind, reflection or reflective thinking is a cycle of thoughts and not just a series of ideas. He describes reflection as a successive order in which each though or idea leads to another, and then another idea is built based on the previous one and so on, until it leads to an outcome. Most importantly, he considers that reflection should be democratic, happening in communities and in interaction with others. But as a trainee teacher, what I want to touch up on is, his vi
ews of routine action vs reflective action. In the routine action, Dewey refers to the unreflective teacher as an individual that does not see another way of solving a problem. Influenced by things such as: procedures, environment, authority and rules, the mind of an individual can be stagnant and indifferent to changing situations. On the other hand, his view of reflective actions, sees an individual that is willing to review and develop his way of thinking or acting. My own interpretation of Deweys reflective theory is that a teacher who is willing to accept the school routines and rules even if they do not work, is an unreflective teacher. Whilst a teacher who is willing to solve a problem that persists, in different ways than the obvious, is a reflective individual. Anyone could be a reflective thinker if they feel the need to solve an issue. However, this involves the active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it.