Objective

Merriam and Bierema (2014) in their book Adult Learning- Linking theory and Practice, state that the key perspective on learning and reflection is that- ‘learning from one’s experience involves not just reflection, but critical reflection’.

Reflective

Learning happens in a continuum. We are all lifelong learners. It might be a new perspective, a new ritual, a new recipe, new technology or anything, we are learning something or the other all the time. 

Thinking as defined by Dr. Dereck Carbera is a process of taking information and structuring it in a meaningful way so that we can do something with it. Learning happens when we learn to think. The best way to engage learners is to help them create connections of content in the context of things they have knowledge or experience about. These connections happen through reflection. However, we all have a tendency to walk on treaded paths. We are very often averse to new ideas, especially those that can change or challenge our pre-formed beliefs and assumptions. Therefore, reflection may help us make connections between new ideas and assumptions but it may be still biased. We may be viewing and accepting new ideas with old glasses and not truly introspecting them in the light of current knowledge.

When I think of this idea, I can instantly recall so many things in the world that we have just accepted as they are because we never thought otherwise about them. The learning styles myth, the power of milk myth and so many others.

During PIDP courses, I studied about the limbic system that is presumptuous and biased. I learned about confirmation bias that makes us confirm to things the way we want to. These presumptions and biases stop us from reviewing things and interpreting information and we often end up with biased interpretations of things.

I remember once I had a student who was extremely superstitious. She would look at the clock and stop studying. Always smear her forehead with a ‘tika’ and was always rejected in every job placement interview held in college. I had been against superstition all my life and my bias against superstition made me avoid this student. I even tried to think about what I was doing and my mind would tell me that, it’s ok. She is ruining her life and doesn’t listen to anyone. Maybe she can only learn the harder way. I never did any extra effort to help her in her learning journey like I would normally do with all my other students.

Five years later, she emailed me stating that she was doing well and that she had got a great job and everything. She said that her years in college were good but she had missed being mentored by me. She said she loved to see all the other students of her class get a special attention and felt that she could never get it. I was so full of remorse. I realized that it was my bias against superstition that made me even more biased against helping her. I had failed myself as a teacher. It had happened as I had failed to critically reflect on my behaviour.

Interpretive

Our biases kill our creativity and imagination. We cling to our assumptions and biases as they fall in our zone of ‘the known’. In order to avoid being daunted by ‘the unknown’ zone we avoid risking our assumptions and beliefs in the light of new knowledge or awareness. That is when we fail to grow. To be clear and unbiased in accepting and forming new thoughts, ideas and assumptions we need to critically reflect. We often reflect on our experiences and assumptions in the manner most comfortable to us and thus keep living in a skewed view of things.

If we all learn how to be reflect critically, we learn to grow, accept and adapt.

Mezirow’s transformative learning theory talks at length about the importance of critical reflection. Critical Reflection is the pathway that can rid us of our biases and assumptions and make us freely constructive knowledge and use information in meaningful ways.

Decisional

Nothing is stagnant in this world. We live in a flow world where along with everything else, knowledge, assumptions and beliefs are changing all the tie as per the needs of the world, as per the new information discovered and as per the new technologies and tools being created. In this flow we need to learn the art of reflecting critically and teach our children the same thing.

Then only we would be able to understand and accept the world around us. Critical reflection is the key to all learning. To be educated, according to me is to be skilled in reflecting critically.

References

Cabrera, D. (2011, December 8). How thinking works [Video File]. Retrieved from http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxWilliamsport-Dr-Derek-Cabre

Merriam, S.B. & Bierema, L.L. (2013). Adult learning: Linking theory and practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Transformative learning. (2015, March 18). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:25, May 25, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Transformative_learning&oldid=651875795