The DOI matches its Crossref record; 24 of the 24 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Defining Reflection: Another Look at John Dewey and Reflective Thinking
Abstract
Thinking, particularly reflective thinking or inquiry, is essential to both teachers’ and students’ learning. In the past 10 to 15 years numerous commissions, boards, and foundations as well as states and local school districts have identified reflection/inquiry as a standard toward which all teachers and students must strive. However, although the cry for accomplishment in systematic, reflective thinking is clear, it is more difficult to distinguish what systematic, reflective thinking is. There are four problems associated with this lack of definition that make achievement of such a standard difficult. First, it is unclear how systematic reflection is different from other types of thought. Second, it is difficult to assess a skill that is vaguely defined. Third, without a clear picture of what reflection looks like, it has lost its ability to be seen and therefore has begun to lose its value. And finally, without a clear definition, it is difficult to research the effects of reflective teacher education and professional development on teachers’ practice and students’ learning. It is the purpose of this article to restore some clarity to the concept of reflection and what it means to think, by going back to the roots of reflection in the work of John Dewey. I look at four distinct criteria that characterize Dewey's view and offer the criteria as a starting place for talking about reflection, so that it might be taught, learned, assessed, discussed, and researched, and thereb…
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Tran, H. M. T., & Anvari, F. (2026) · Journal of Language Teaching and Learning Today · doi:10.65956/ltlt.2026.10
“Reflection is a systematic and rigorous process that can help practitioners to turn experiences into meaningful knowledge for personal and intellectual growth (Rodgers, 2002).”
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(2015) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/978-1-68123-375-820251009
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(2015) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/978-1-68123-375-820251019
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“Rodgers argues that ‘reflection is a meaning-making process that moves a learner from one experience into the next with deeper understanding of its relationships with and connections to other experiences and ideas’ (Rodgers, 2002, p. 845).”
Gao, X., & To, S. (2026) · The British Journal of Social Work · doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcag086
Gürefe, N., & Yumrutepe, N. E. (2026) · Journal of Intelligence · doi:10.3390/jintelligence14070149
“…is a metacognitive monitoring mechanism in which an individual filters past experiences through an analytical lens, evaluates their current cognitive schemas, and transforms and uses structured information to overcome complex challenges (Farnila et al., 2021; Kholid et al., 2020; Rodgers, 2002).”
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The babelization of reflective practice in initial teacher education
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“Learners can restructure their knowledge and experiences by acquiring or applying new knowledge through reflective thinking to achieve goals (Rodgers 2002).”
Voulgari, R., Koutrouba, K., Vamvakari, M., et al. (2026) · Education Sciences · doi:10.3390/educsci16091527
Jiang, Z., Li, Y., Xu, Y., Yu, G., & Li, X. (2026) · Multimodal Technologies and Interaction · doi:10.3390/mti10090098
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Students’ problem-solving patterns in arithmetic series tasks viewed through reflective thinking
Kholid, M. N., Febriyanti, R., Santosa, Y. T., Faiziyah, N., Hidayati, Y. M., Budi, A. B. S., Sukmawati, T., Suharna, H., Tong, D. H., & Toh, T. L. (2026) · Discover Education · doi:10.1007/s44217-026-02176-4 · Cited by 1
“Rodgers [78] identified three aspects of reflective thinking: describing an incident, analysing the corresponding experience, and experimenting.”
Larsen, I. B. (2026) · The International Journal of Management Education · doi:10.1016/j.ijme.2026.101557
Metadata
- Authors
- Rodgers, C.
- Affiliations
- State University of New York (US)
- Corresponding author
- Rodgers, Carol
- ORCID
- Rodgers, Carol
- Venue
- Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2002-04
- Volume
- 104
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 842-866
- ISSN
- 0040-0475 (ISSN-L)
- 0161-4681
- 1467-9620
- OpenAlex
- W2108707473
- Cited by
- 1,848
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 68 · 2025: 81 · 2024: 101 · 2023: 139 · 2022: 119 · 2021: 147 · 2020: 180 · 2019: 132 · 2018: 105 · 2017: 86 · 2016: 121 · 2015: 97 · 2014: 85 · 2013: 71 · 2012: 69
- FWCI
- 60.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Teachers College Record The Voice of Scholarship in Education (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Reflective Practices in Education
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Pragmatism in Philosophy and Education
- Social Sciences › Education › Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
- Keywords
- reflective thinking, John Dewey, reflection, inquiry, reflective teacher education, professional development, assessment of reflection
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