Dewey is an influential educator. Some people say that "his educational thought marks an era", and he is an iconic figure in the history of education. Since the publication of 19 10, his How Do We Think has never left people's sight for a hundred years, and it lasts forever. Today, with the noise of the new round of curriculum reform fading away, people begin to think deeply. What is the purpose and essence of teaching? How to realize effective teaching? When people are constantly pursuing the answers to these questions, they are still deeply confused. Dewey's reflective thinking theory can give us some enlightenment.
First, the meaning and characteristics of reflective thinking
Learning means learning to think. [1] There are many forms of thinking. First of all, "stream of consciousness" is an unconscious and uncontrolled conceptual process, which spreads all over our minds. For example, what we are vaguely thinking or thinking for a moment belongs to the stream of consciousness; Secondly, it is a "fictional story", such as the story of "the farmer and the snake" that we accidentally thought of. It is not directly perceived by us, but is fictional and discontinuous, which is different from the actual observed records. Third, "belief without evidence", such as "I think it will be cold tomorrow", is equivalent to saying "I believe it will be cold tomorrow". Faith includes things that we don't know for sure, but do without doubt, and things that we think are true knowledge at present and may be questioned in the future. These forms of thinking are either unconscious, such as the first "subconscious"; Or it is random and discontinuous, such as the second "accidental imagination"; Or it is a parrot, intuitive guess, and take it for granted, such as the third "belief without evidence." In a word, Dewey thinks that these thinking modes are not reflective, and they all have their own defects, which are not ideal or even harmful for promoting the development of human thinking. Dewey thinks that "reflective thinking" is "the best way of thinking". Reflective thinking refers to thinking about a problem repeatedly, seriously and continuously. However, although there are significant differences between reflective thinking and the above three forms of thinking, they may all cause reflective thinking, and once reflective thinking is started, there will be conscious and intentional efforts to form beliefs on the solid basis of evidence and rationality. This is the uniqueness of reflective thinking. Specifically, it has the following three characteristics:
First, reflective thinking has a conscious purpose and aims to draw conclusions. Purpose is the main feature that distinguishes reflective thinking from stream of consciousness, random imagination and belief without evidence. Reflective thinking is not only enjoyed through a series of pleasant fictional stories and various scenes in the mind, but also points to the purpose. [2] In the whole process of reflective thinking, the first and most important problem is to solve doubts. If there are no problems to solve and no difficulties to overcome, you will think wildly. Of course, if you want to answer a question and deal with a question, you need to set a goal. For example, a traveler who just wants to find the way to a specific city should search on the traffic route; If his aim is to find a scenic path, then he must find a new path. Dewey also believes that "the nature of the problem determines the purpose of thinking, and the purpose of thinking controls the process of thinking." [3] Therefore, reflective thinking needs to draw a conclusion, and this conclusion must be confirmed. For example, a story about a giant may be very interesting in itself, but the conclusion of reflective thinking requires the giant to live in a specific time and place on earth, and it needs to make some explanations beyond a series of imagination to become a conclusive and well-reasoned conclusion.
Second, reflective thinking is a continuous and orderly connection. We are often in a daze, but in fact, our thinking has not stopped. All kinds of "streams of consciousness" are full of brains, but these things have little to do with each other, even chaotic, and have little value. Reflective thinking emphasizes continuity, not only the continuity of ideas, but also the continuity of results. For example, idioms solitaire's game follows this continuous and orderly connection. For example, the age of the elderly, people's life is related to the sky, and the sky is flat ... years are far away, far from the ocean, and the ears are full of music, that is, "the former determines the latter, and the latter is the legitimate result of the former, which is restricted by the former, or the latter refers to the former." In addition, "any reflective thinking has some definite components, which are linked together and constantly move towards a common goal." [④]
Third, reflective thinking includes personal investigation, testing and inquiry. Reflective thinking is a process of repeated, serious and continuous reflection on a certain problem. Investigation, exploration and inspection are essential links in reflective thinking. For example, earlier people thought that the earth was flat, and their basis was what people could see in their field of vision. However, this kind of evidence has not been further investigated, tested by other evidence that should have attracted attention, and no new evidence has been unearthed. When Columbus "imagined" the earth as a sphere, he and his companions put forward a series of other assumptions and took action: they firmly believed that India could be reached along this route and what would happen if the ship sailed westward in the Atlantic Ocean. Columbus was able to put forward his new ideas precisely because he did not accept the traditional theory without doubt, but was full of the spirit of doubt and exploration. This is the third characteristic of reflective thinking.
In a word, reflective thinking is to turn ambiguous, suspicious and contradictory situations into clear, organized and harmonious situations. Reflective thinking has two limits, that is, starting from a confused, difficult or chaotic situation; End with a clear, consistent and definite situation. The first situation is the situation before reflection. The problems that need to be solved are put forward. In the latter case, doubts are eliminated and problems are solved; This is the situation after reflection.