Meaning Making: Two key elements of ‘Reflecting IN’
Donald Schon, (1930–1997) at Yale & Harvard took Dewey’s ‘Theory of Inquiry’ to new levels of pragmatism.
For our diagram we will focus on his idea of reflecting IN and reflecting ON an event. So when we reflect IN, it is reflecting at the time an event is happening, in real time. There are two key elements to reflecting IN.
One is the so-called thinking on your feet, either unconscious or natural reactions to certain situations. The 2nd is when we are quickly thinking and determining consciously different options are possible consequences and then making decisions at the time again, reflecting during an action, to see what the result will be
Much of Schon’s writing resonated with me because he really was quite bold and blatant in his critique of how formal education institutions really operate counterproductive to the idea of someone learning. Schon’s central argument was that ‘change’ was a fundamental factor of modern life and is necessary to develop social systems that could learn and adapt.
