Background/Purpose
Reflection is a key activity during the course of teacher education (Postholm, 2008). Schon (1983, 1987) described three types of reflection: (a) reflection for action, a prospective type of reflection, focuses on the future of action (Eraut, 1995); (b) reflection in action refers to the making of decisions guided by tacit knowledge that occurs in the midst of acting; and (c) refection on action, a retrospective kind of reflection occurs after action has been taken. The purpose of this study was to examine student teacher's reflection practice during practicum. Specifically, we intended to describe student perspectives on reflection and illustrate what types of reflections they used in their field experiences.
Method
Twelve student teachers enrolled in a practicum course were the participants. The course syllabus, students' artifacts including a portion of their homework for the seminar and recall/reflection for the field experience were collected. All seminar sessions were observed, and student teachers' field experiences were observed twice. Based upon the observation and student recall/reflection, four students were chosen for semi-structured 15-minute interviews. The interviews were audio-taped and conducted in a close-door office. The interview questions concentrated on their experiences of course, reflection practice, and the course components in relation to their reflection. The data from different sources, field notes, student artifacts, interviews, and relevant researcher memos were triangulated to ensure trustworthiness.
Analysis/Results
Data were analyzed using open and axial coding through constant comparison (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Two salient themes emerged. First, student teacher gained reflection practices on action and for action in the practicum course from different components of the course. For example, student teachers thought that the seminar homework, recall/reflection for field experience all provided opportunities for reflection on and for action. Second, reflection in action appeared to be vague for some students, and they felt that they have no time for reflection in action because there were “too many things going on” during the lesson; they need “focus on the tasks” of their planned activities.
Conclusions
The results of this study suggest that student teachers gained ample experiences of reflection for action and on action. Experiences for reflection in action, however, appeared to be lacking during practicum. Reflection in action is critical because it could change teachers' instructional behaviors almost instantly and have effects on their future instruction (Eraut, 1995). More tasks that emphasized on reflection in action should be included in practicum courses and other student teaching experiences.