Reflection.

Abstract

Reflection is thinking about practice, based on traces of recalled facts or data, with a view toward better understanding it. Reflection is prompted by discrepancies between what we observe and what we expect and commonly takes the forms of comparing personal experiences, reviewing events mentally, looking for trends in data, building new prototypes, and managing impressions. Normally, the process involves awareness, reviewing selected traces, resolving tensions, and looking for the greater whole. Practitioners both reflect in practice (specific problem solving) and reflect on practice (drawing general conclusions). The essence of reflection is finding a meaningful way to make tacit knowledge available in explicit form. Often this involves story telling, with its attendant features of plot, emotion, dramatic tension, and the success of the hero.