An Analysis of the Efficacy of a Reflective Thinking Instructional Module on the Reflective Thinking Demonstrated in the Field Experience Logs of Early Elementary Preservice Teachers

Educators have long argued that teacher preparation programs and pedagogy should be designed to foster reflective thinking. Underlying this premise is the belief that reflective teachers positively effect the education experiences of their students. Consequently, a reflective thinking module was developed to increase the level of reflective thinking in early elementary preservice teachers. This study investigated the efficacy of this module in effecting the quality of reflection exhibited in field experience logs. It can be conservatively concluded that this reflective thinking module did increase the quality of reflection in the experimental group. The researchers found other factors also influenced the quality of the reflection in the field experience logs. These include 1) students' preoccupation with practical, technical aspects of teaching, 2) lack of knowledge about levels of reflection, and 3) lack of time to complete reflections in a thoughtful manner. Therefore, these three factors as well as an instructional module should be incorporated into any plans for reflective thinking instruction for preservice elementary teachers.