LibGuides: US IB CAS: Reflections

Reflections

Being reflective is one attribute of the IB learner profile: “We thoughtfully consider the world and our own ideas and experience. We work to understand our strengths and weaknesses in order to support our learning and personal development.”

Reflection is central to building a deep and rich experience in CAS. Developing a culture of reflection helps students recognize and understand how to be reflective as well as deciding the best methods and appropriate timing. Student learning is enhanced by reflection on choices and actions. This enables students to grow in their ability to explore skills, strengths, limitations and areas for further developmen

Through reflection students examine ideas and consider how they might use prior learning in new contexts. Reflection leads to improved problem-solving, higher cognitive processes and greater depth of understanding in addition to exploring how CAS experiences may influence future possibilities.
The thinking skills category of the approaches to learning in the Diploma program highlights the need to explicitly teach students to reflect in different situations. For reflection in CAS to be meaningful, schools must plan how to engage students in reflection as a learned process. The development of reflective skills is best when explicitly taught across the curriculum, leading students to reflect independently as a valued process.

The overarching intention of reflection in CAS includes the opportunity for students to:
• deepen learning
• consider relevance of experience
• explore personal and group values
• recognize the application of knowledge, skills, and attributes
• identify strengths and areas for development
• gain a greater understanding of self and others
• place experience in a larger context
• generate relevant ideas and questions
• consider improvements in individual and collective choices and actions
• transfer prior learning to new situations
• generate and receive constructive feedback
• develop the ongoing habit of thoughtful, reflective practice.

Elements of Reflections
Reflection is a dynamic means for self-knowing, learning and decision-making. Four elements assist in the CAS reflective process. The first two elements form the foundation of reflection.
• Describing what happened: Students retell their memorable moments, identifying what was important or influential, what went well or was difficult, obstacles and successes.
• Expressing feelings: Students articulate emotional responses to their experiences.

The following two elements add greater depth and expand perspectives.
• Generating ideas: Rethinking or re-examining choices and actions increases awareness about self and situations.
• Asking questions: Questions about people, processes or issues prompt further thinking and ongoing inquiry.

Extending Reflections
Having established an effective understanding of the four elements of reflection, students develop higher order thinking skills by critically examining thoughts, feelings and actions, thereby synthesizing their learning. The theory of knowledge (TOK) course provides students with critical thinking skills to develop and extend their reflections. For example, during TOK (ways of knowing) they consider their emotions, ability to reason and how to use language.
Students can be encouraged to move forward through deeper questions. For example:
What did I do? Could become:
     • Why did I make this particular choice?
     • How did this experience reflect my personal ideas and values?
     • In what ways am I being challenged to think differently about myself and others?

How did I feel? Could become:
     • How did I feel about the challenges?
     • What happened that prompted particular feelings?
     • What choices might have resulted in different feelings and outcomes?

Reflection can appear in countless forms. CAS students should be able to identify forms of expression that have personal meaning and best enable them to explore their experiences. For example:
     • A student might take photographs while hiking and use these to reflect in writing.
     • Two students could compose a song describing how they helped children.
     • A student might dramatize a poem to capture a feeling of creative endeavor.
     • A student could produce a short video summarizing a CAS experience.
     • A group of students create a poster highlighting aspects of a shared experience.

Understanding Reflections
One way to explain reflection is to clarify what reflection is and what it is not. A helpful way to initiate discussion of the reflective process is for students to collaborate with their peers and draw up their own comparison table. This chart shows examples of what students may list and discuss.

Reflection Options (from the IB)

Written and verbal reflections are the most common ways students reflect. These are important methods; however, keep in mind that meaningful reflection can be expressed in various ways. Often, written reflection cannot express the depth of an experience in the way that visual, auditory or kinesthetic means of reflection can.

Visual reflection can be accomplished through:

Photography
Painting
Animation
sculpting/ceramics/mosaic
prints
textile and needlework.

Kinesthetic reflection can be accomplished through:

dance
theatre
mime
role play.

Auditory reflection can be accomplished through:

lyrics
rap
jingle
melodies.

By engaging in diverse forms of reflection, students may discover their preferred ways to reflect and integrate reflection by choice into their daily lives.

Get Creative-Another Way to Think about Reflections

Reflection is central to building a deep and rich experience in CAS. It leads to improved problem-solving, higher cognitive processes and greater depth of understanding. Reflection is a dynamic means for self-knowing, learning and decision-making and can take many forms.
Here are four:

• Describing what happened: Students retell their memorable moments, identifying what was important or influential, what went well or was difficult, obstacles and successes.
• Expressing feelings: Students articulate emotional responses to their experiences.
• Generating ideas: Rethinking or re-examining choices and actions increases awareness about self and situations.
• Asking questions: Questions about people, processes or issues prompt further thinking and ongoing inquiry.

REMEMBER!
1. Students should not postpone reflections on a particular activity. Before, during and after an activity are all good times to reflect.
2. Reflection can appear in countless forms. For example:
 Take photographs while hiking and reflect on them later.
 Compose a song with a friend.
 Write a poem.
 Produce a short video summarizing a CAS experience
 A group of students create a poster highlighting aspects of a shared experience.
 Write a paragraph or a letter.

ALSO REMEMBER!
1. Reflecting should be enjoyable.
2. Reflections can be included in the portfolio.
3. Reflection is not right or wrong.

Unique Reflection Examples

• Some students organize an impromptu ‘flash mob’ to commemorate their attendance at an annual Youth Leaders symposium. One of the art students then followed this up with a cartoon depiction of the event, which included 9 caricatures of each student who had participated, accompanied by speech bubbles with their individual comments on the flash mob experience and the symposium.

• A student created a magic show as his choice for expressive, meaningful reflection. Challenges and surprises were represented by objects appearing out of hats, from behind ears and magically out of thin air. Similarly, items disappeared within an instant, representing challenges successfully met along with his CAS journey. The magic show demonstrated the student’s passion for magic – his distinct talent – as well as a compilation of numerous skills and knowledge acquired during his time in the DP.

• Following his involvement in a CAS project focusing on improving social justice, a student wrote two songs that acted as a culminating reflection. The student performed these songs in the school cafeteria, with an accompanying visual presentation that gave further details on his reflections and overall experience.

• One student decided to take one photograph a week throughout her CAS experience that captured what she was feeling, thinking, seeing or learning. She combed through her photographs to create a gallery without a single caption to present to the community. She wanted to see if what she saw through her camera lens would reflect the story accurately.

• A student turned in a basketball to represent his reflection in Activity. All over the basketball he wrote phrases, attached photos, and adhered articles to repurpose the ball as a road map to his experience and represent his reflections.

• A student decided to make a drawing on his growth process through CAS. Just with drawings it was understood how his experiences developed his self-identity