The Five Stages of Reflective Thinking: what we can still learn from John Dewey

“We don’t learn from experience; we learn from reflecting on experience.” This statement is often attributed to the philosopher and educational reformer John Dewey. Unfortunately there’s no evidence that he ever wrote this; but whatever its provenance it has been an influential mantra about reflective practice for many years. As Dewey is one of the foundational thinkers behind the importance of experience and reflection for learning I thought it would be interesting to go back to the source and find out what he did in fact have to say. So I started with “How We Think” published in 1910. What did I notice?

Dewey’s most important insight I think is that while reflection on experience is vital for learning, that reflective thinking must lead to further action. New insights gained from reflective thinking are intended to develop a hypotheses that must be tested through experimentation. Reflective thinking is action oriented. It’s not just about stepping back and contemplating, pondering or questioning. In fact Dewey identifies five steps in reflective thinking (although in practice the learner will tack back and forth between the stages):

1.??????Noticing a difficulty: The trigger for thoughtful reflection is the occurrence of a difficulty, an unexpected event or a disagreement over the nature of a problem or event. He states: “the difficulty may be felt with sufficient definiteness as to set the mind at once speculating upon its probable solution, or an undefined uneasiness or shock may come first, leading only later to definite attempt to find out what is the matter”. The difficulty may be characterised as the presence of “different meanings, rival possible interpretations, there is some point at issue, some matter at stake.” He observes that this may be caused by a lack of coherence among the facts, data or information to hand. There’s an intuitive element to this, noticed as an emotional disturbance a vague feeling of the unexpected, something strange, puzzling or disconcerting. So it’s important to be on the look out for these situations; to notice them and not let opportunities for deeper reflection and learning pass by. “Every vital activity of any depth and range inevitably meets obstacles…The difficulties that present themselves within the development of an experience are…to be cherished…not minimized, for they are the natural stimuli to reflective inquiry.” Action: Try to become more aware of events, issues and problems that are disconcerting or surprising. Pause and notice.

2.??????Defining the difficulty. This involves formulation, and conscious stating of the problem: “the growing of a meaning out of vagueness into definiteness.” This step, Dewey states, requires deliberate observation “calculated to bring to light just what is the trouble, or to make clear the character of the problem.” It is more than simply ‘noticing’ or ‘automatic recognition’. “Recognition refers to the already mastered; observation with mastering the unknown.” “…all reflective inference, presupposes some lack of understanding, a partial absence of meaning. We reflect in order that we may get hold of the full and adequate significance of what happens.” This step therefore requires the postponement of judgement until the nature of the problem has been thoroughly explored. Thorough diagnosis is required “in every novel and complicated situation to prevent rushing to a conclusion.” “The essence of critical thinking is suspended judgement; and the essence of this suspense is inquiry to determine the nature of the problem before proceeding to attempts at its solution”. This search for meaning among incoherent information involves connecting things. “Again, to think is to relate things to one another definitely, to “put two and two together” as we say”. Reflection involves looking at events from multiple perspectives and intentionally seeking to find new interpretations and insights. “Reflection is turning a topic over in various aspects and in various lights so that nothing significant about it shall be overlooked – almost as one might turn a stone over to see what its hidden side is like or what is covered by it”. He points out that “In speaking of reflection we naturally use the words weigh, ponder, deliberate – terms implying a certain delicate and scrupulous balancing of things against one another. Closely related names are scrutiny, examination, consideration, inspection – terms which imply close and careful vision.” Action: Protect time to describe those issues or events that are puzzling or disturbing. Describe them from different points of view and try to identify the hidden assumptions and meanings behind them.

3.??????Developing a hypothesis or suggestion. The next stage is the identification of a suggested explanation or possible solution to the problem or difficulty, or what we might term the development of a working hypothesis or theory. This hypothesis should not be entirely accepted “but only tentatively entertained.”?Dewey warns against “(h)asty acceptance of any idea that is plausible, that seems to solve the difficulty” in favour of only a “conditional acceptance pending further inquiry”. Any explanation should only be “a working hypothesis, as something to guide investigation and bring to light new facts, not as a final conclusion.” In fact he advocates the development of multiple hypotheses or “rival conjectures”, loosely or tentatively held, about the best course to pursue or probable explanation of the problem. Hence “cultivation of a variety of alternative suggestions is an important factor in good thinking”. Action: Develop a number of different plausible explanations to help understand the problem or difficulty.

4.??????Elaboration of the hypothesis or reasoning out the implications of an idea, looking into it more deeply to consider likely consequences and to consider whether each interpretation or solution is likely to be fruitful in making progress or clarifying meaning. This takes time. “The working over of a vague and more or less casual idea into coherent and definite form is impossible without a pause, without freedom from distraction. We say ‘Stop and think’; well all reflection involves, at some point, stopping external observations and reactions so that an idea may mature. Meditation, withdrawal or abstraction from clamorous assailants of the senses and from demands for overt action, is as necessary at the reasoning stage, as are observation and experiment at other stages.” Action: for each hypothesis about how to make progress try to understand what will be required, who needs to be involved and what the risks and benefits will be.

5.??????Application and corroboration of the idea/hypothesis through experimentation or empirical verification perhaps through direct observation. Hence action in response to reflection is crucial to Dewey’s conception of reflective thought. Experimentation to test loosely held explanations is the basis for further reflection and refinement of understanding. Thus there is another phase of observation (which occurs at the beginning and the end of the reflective process). “Application is as much an intrinsic part of genuine reflective inquiry as is alert observation or reasoning itself.” Action: experiment with new activities, behaviours and perspectives to test the explanations developed through reflection. Use these experiments as the basis for further reflection and continued learning.

Dewey acknowledges that reflective thinking isn’t easy and can be time consuming. This explains why many avoid it or find it hard to sustain over time. He says: “Reflective thinking is always more or less troublesome because it involves overcoming the inertia that inclines one to accept suggestions at their face value; it involves willingness to endure a condition?of mental unrest and disturbance. Reflective thinking, in short, means judgement suspended during further inquiry; and suspense is likely to be somewhat painful”. He makes a point however of encouraging proportionality. He warns against prolonged diagnosis, and preparation and elaboration of hypotheses. If reflection is too exhaustive and long – what is referred to now as paralysis by analysis – then true learning will not occur. There are no hard and fast rules about this. Knowing when enough is enough is a matter of training and experience. Training and continued experience in critically reflective thinking helps the individual to grasp “the degree of observation, forming of ideas, reasoning, and experimental testing required in any special case”.

Dewey’s approach to reflective thinking and learning as set out in How We Think is strongly oriented to action and the value of experience. He argues that learning from direct inquiry based on personal experience should be preferred and protected, wherever feasible, over formal teaching or learning from books. He emphasises that the goal of reflective thinking must be the generation of new experiences to test hypotheses: “(t)hinking, in short, must end as well as begin in the domain of concrete observations, if it is to be complete thinking. And the ultimate educative value of all deductive processes is measured by the degree to which they become working tools in the creation and development of new experiences.” He argues strongly that “(e)very complete act of reflective inquiry makes provision for experimentation – for testing suggested and accepted principles by employing them for the active construction of new cases, in which new qualities emerge.” Experiential learning where ideas and action interact “is the sole alternative both to bull-headed stupidity and to learning bought from that dear teacher – chance experience.”

Another of my articles on Reflective practice is here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/what-reflective-practice-clive-martlew/