Abstract
The roots of reflective journaling as a formal method of inquiry are often attributed to Dewey (How we think: A restatement of the relations of reflective thinking to the educative process (2nd revised), Heath, 1933), and later Schön (The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. Basic Books, 1983), writings on reflective practice—the idea of intentional, structured reflection as a tool for improving one’s practice, for educators (primarily) and other professions (e.g., nursing, social work). While Dewey’s emphasis was on pedagogy and professional development, Schön described reflective practice as knowledge acquisition in itself; he rejected the dichotomy between researcher and practitioner, and suggesting, instead, a cyclical process of doing-reflecting-learning.
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References
Dewey, J. (1933). How we think: A restatement of the relations of reflective thinking to the educative process (2nd revised). D. C. Heath.
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Further Reading
Bashan, B., & Holsblat, R. (2017) Reflective journals as a research tool: The case of student teachers’ development of teamwork, Cogent Education, 4(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2017.1374234
Jasper, M. A. (2005). Using reflective writing within research. Journal of Research in Nursing, 10(3), 247–260. https://doi.org/10.1177/174498710501000303
Vicary, S., Young, A., & Hicks, S. (2016). A reflective journal as learning process and contribution to quality and validity in interpretative phenomenological analysis. Qualitative Social Work, 16(4), 550–565. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325016635244
Online Resources
A short guide to reflective writing. University of Birmingham. https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/as/libraryservices/library/asc/documents/public/Short-Guide-Reflective-Writing.pdf
Reflective writing. University of Hull. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoI67VeE3ds&t=150s (6 minutes)
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Edwards, S. (2023). Reflective Journaling. In: Okoko, J.M., Tunison, S., Walker, K.D. (eds) Varieties of Qualitative Research Methods. Springer Texts in Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04394-9_65
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