Using reflection to develop higher order processes. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association

The ability to think critically is an important trait of all members of society. With today’s multinational, multicultural, complex issues, citizens must be able to sift through large amounts of various data to make intelligent decisions. According to Leibowitz (1997) “complex thinking, communication and collaboration will be among the essential process areas for the world as we will know it ” (p. 50). Higher education must provide the intellectual training for its students to participate in this world. Purpose The main purpose of this study was to look at how we used specific writing assignments in our courses to encourage metacognitive reflection in order to increase the learning that takes place. This study also aimed to aid in the development of higher order processing skills through the development of student reflection. We have focused on Marzano’s (2001) three systems of knowledge processing: self-system thinking, metacognition and cognitive system. The cognitive system is subdivided into retrieval, comprehension, analysis, and knowledge utilization. Theoretical Framewor