The following prompts can be used to create reflection thinking sheets that get students to reflect upon their collaboration and learning processes.
Group-Contribution Self-Assessment (1 per individual student)
- I have contributed to the group progress in the following way:
- In this group, it is hard for me to:
- I can change this by:
- I need to do the following to make our group more effective
Group Learning Log (1 per student team)
- We had the following goals:
- We accomplished:
- Our next steps are:
- Our most important concerns / problems / questions are;
- We learned
End of Project Self-Assesment (1 per individual student)
- I completed the following tasks during the project:
- As a result I learned the following:
- About the subject matter:
- About working in a group:
- About conducting an investigation:
- About presenting to an audience:
- About ____________:
- I learned that my strengths are:
- I learned that I need to work on:
- I would make the following changes if I were to do the project again:
Self reflection is important to learning in PBL projects because it makes students more self-aware of the skills they are learning while completing projects. Some of the reflection prompts also get students to reflect on current problems and possible solutions to these. Regular reflections can help students more self-aware and more in control of their learning, investigation, and collaborative processes. Teachers can process reflections to improve upcoming activities and projects and to provide individual and team support to students in need.
Preparation Steps
- Create handouts (electronic or hard copies) of reflection sheets
- (Optional) Create Google forms to gather handout data
- Create storage system (file or physical) for reflection sheets
- Decide how frequently you want students to reflect on their work
Early Implementation Steps
- Model how to complete reflection sheet by thinking aloud and by using a model reflection sheet
- Allow regular times for students to complete reflection sheets
- Analyze reflection data and use it to fine tune upcoming activities and supports
Advanced Implementation Steps
- Use trends in students concerns and problems to design new scaffolding in related 21st century skills
- Share trends from analyzing reflection data and discuss how these can impact teaching and learning
- PBL articles
- Assessments articles
- Collaboration articles