Date of Award

1-1-2011

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology

Program

Educational Psychology and Methodology

Content Description

1 online resource (x, 160 pages)

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

David Y. Dai

Committee Members

James Allen, Heidi Andrade

Keywords

Cases, Mezirow, Reflection, Teacher Education, Reflective learning, Critical thinking, Problem-based learning

Subject Categories

Curriculum and Instruction | Educational Psychology | Teacher Education and Professional Development

Abstract

This study helped to clarify the definition of reflection in the literature while also contributing to teacher education curricula. Eleven graduate students enrolled in an educational psychology graduate level course at a university in the northeast completed course assignments, entitled My Thoughts and Follow-Up Reflection (Dai, 2006). The purpose of these assignments was to scaffold and assess process reflection and premise reflection (Mezirow, 1991). The assignments focused on the analysis (My Thoughts) and reanalysis ( Follow-Up Reflection) of two problem-based cases, Mary Ewing and Sarah Hanover (Silverman, Welty, & Lyon, 1996). An analysis of the data was conducted using methods from Auerbach and Silverstein (2003) and Miles and Huberman (1994). Process reflection was not fully demonstrated for either case. Premise reflection was demonstrated by five students in the italic> Follow-Up Reflection assignment for either the Mary Ewing case or the Sarah Hanover case. Possible explanations for the results could be the manner in which the prompts were written or that Mezirow's framework, especially his definition of premise reflection is too narrowly defined. Even though the assignments did not result in a larger number of students demonstrating process reflection and premise reflection, with modification of the prompts and/or broadening the definition of premise reflection, these assignments may be valuable tools that can be embedded in teacher education curricula.

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