Prompting Middle School Science Students for Productive Reflection: Generic and Directed Prompts

Abstract This classroom study, involving 178 middle school science students, investigates ways of prompting students for reflection. Reflection refers to both metacognition and sense-making. The primary research question is "Do students merely need to be prompted to reflect, or do they need guidance in reflecting productively?" Two types of reflection prompts are contrasted. The first type, called generic prompts, represents a view that asking students to "stop and think" will encourage reflection. The second type, called directed prompts, assumes that a generic request for reflection is insufficient, and that students should instead be provided with hints indicating potentially productive directions for their reflection. (Students in both conditions received identical activity prompts that helped them complete the project.) The results show that students in the generic prompt condition develop more coherent understandings as they work on a complex science project. Students reflect unproductively more often in response to directed prompts as compared to the generic prompts. These poor reflectors are less successful on the project than are other better reflectors. Students with some autonomy who received generic prompts develop more coherent understandings than do their similarly autonomous peers who receive directed prompts. The role of reflection in promoting multiple, complementary knowledge integration processes is described. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for both instruction and cognition, including strategies for promoting productive reflection in classroom situations.