Reflective questioning asks learners to look at what they have done and to think critically about it.
The aim is simple.
To help learners assess and critique their own thinking, so they might better understand what they have learned, and might also improve how they think in the future.
Reflection is the process by which we stop and consider that which we have done.
We use the present to look critically at the past and, in so doing, to both reinterpret and reassess what we think we know.
This is reflection in its ideal form.
It does not – and will not – always reach this level of conceptual depth.
However, any degree of reflection is welcome as it involves learners analysing their thinking, their actions, and the relationship between these.
Good reflection needs to be taught, and we will look at this in below.
Here are some exemplar reflective questions you can use with your learners
- How effective was your thinking today? Why?
- What were you thinking about during the task?
- What different strategies did you try? Which worked best?
- If you were going to think about the problem again, what might you do differently?
- How would you describe your thinking today?
- If you could go back and give yourself advice on how to think about the problem, what would you say?
- How do you see your thinking changing next lesson?
- Which strategies worked? Why did they work?
- Were you surprised by any of your thinking today? Why?
- Can you talk me through the different types of thinking you’ve used today?
- What impact has your thinking had? How did it help you?
- What will you take away from today’s lesson? How could you use it to change your thinking in the future?
- How else could you have thought about the problem? What might have been the result?
- Where did you get stuck today? Why did this happen?
- What did your mistakes tell you about your thinking?
- Do you think your thinking was challenged today? Why?
- If you had to explain your thinking to someone else, how would you do it?
- Where did you get your ideas from?
- How did you decide which strategy to use?
- When was thinking most difficult today? Why?
You can use reflective questioning at various points in the lesson.
Plenaries and mid-lesson reviews are obvious examples.
However, you can also:
- Make it the basis of starter activities (looking back at previous work and then predicting ahead)
- Include it as part of main activities (therefore adding a metacognitive element where otherwise there might not have been one)
- Or use it as a standalone tool, for example while you circulate during group work.
Reflection Training
We touched on reflection training above. It means training learners in how to reflect.
This is more important than it might seem.
Learners won’t necessarily be able to reflect in the way you want.
And it is very easy to fall into the trap of assuming they know how to reflect.
For example, we might be teaching a lesson, come to the plenary, and then say the following:
- ‘Talk to your partner. Ask them to reflect on what they’ve learned this lesson and how they think their thinking has changed. Five minutes, then we’ll share some ideas.’
Now, there is nothing wrong with this, per se.
The intention is clear, the aim is laudable, and the design is intended to provoke metacognitive thinking.
Yet, there is an ambiguity at the heart of it all.
The word ‘reflect’.
Do learners know what this means?
Do they have a clear understanding of what it entails in practical terms?
Just as we would train learners how to decipher command words in preparation for an exam – define, describe, analyse, assess – so we need to ensure they fully understand and can respond to the word ‘reflect’.
In our example, we might imagine a pair of learners who think they know what reflect means, but don’t actually share the same understanding as the teacher.
They complete the activity by taking it in turns to list all the things they’ve done in the lesson, before concluding that they will know all of this when the next lesson comes.
This is not really reflection.
There isn’t a critical engagement here.
Nor is there an attempt to reframe what has gone before in relation to any set of criteria.
Effective reflection is best achieved through some prior training.
This can take various forms, and you will need to decide what works for you and your learners.
Here are three examples to get you started.
Example 1
Define reflection and ‘to reflect’ at the start of the year.
Display the definition prominently somewhere in your classroom.
Take learners through a series of simulated reflections in which they practice applying the definition.
Example 2
Break reflection down into three parts.
For example:
- Looking at all the thinking you have done, the choices you have made, and the results that came about.
- Decide if your thinking and your choices led to the results you expected.
If they did, examine how you could use this again in the future. If they didn’t, look at why and what you could learn.
Example 3
Teach learners a set of categories they can use as the basis for any reflection.
They can look through these categories to identify the things they want to think about.
For example, a set of categories for reflecting in A Level Sociology might be:
- Conceptual understanding
- Knowledge of facts and studies
- Critical thinking
- Evaluation of strengths and weaknesses
- Interpretation of information
At Key Stage Four and Five there is scope for using exam mark-schemes as the basis for the categories.
All these examples illustrate the benefit of thinking about what reflection means in your classroom and then using this to train your learners.
The goal is to increase the impact of any reflection activities you use.
And to ensure they are meaningful.
