Reflective thinking through the lenses of life-span and educational psychologists

Introduction

“Our philosophy of adult development informs our teaching”

Baumgartner, 2001, Four Adult Development Theories and Their Implications for Practice

Considering different perspectives of adult development can often widen views of our own practices. In doing so, our new found awareness could lead to more appropriate deliveries of learning and development (Baumgartner, 2001, p29). In a 7 part series (an extract from my postgraduate work), I will be reviewing the process of reflective thinking as a developmental process from the eyes of two different developmental groups – Merriam and Clark, who are educational practitioners who draw from multiple views particularly humanistic developmental psychology theories, and Pourchot and Smith, life span psychologists. These were selected because whilst they agree on the concept of continuous life-long development, the former offers a seemingly eclectic view of development embodying a wide range of contextual considerations including life experiences, whilst the latter provides a narrower focus of development in a more formal setting, both of which are richly applicable to the practice of reflective thinking.

References

Baumgartner, L.M. 2001, ‘Four adult development theories and their implications for practice’, National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, Vol. 5, Issue B.