Educational activities by
Janet Salmons.
Salmons and Associates

Photographs by
Joanna B. Pinneo

A Note on Reflection and Learning

Research and learning theory shows that in order for learning to occur, individuals must "make meaning" from their experiences and/or learning situations. John Dewey (1933) asserted that the core of the learning experience must be a project or experience from which the student can draw conclusions about the world. Dewey proposed four criteria that were necessary for "projects to truly be educative":

1. They must generate interest;
2. They must be worthwhile intrinsically;
3. They must present problems that awaken new curiosity and create a demand for information;
4. They must cover a considerable time span and be capable of fostering development over time.

The key to making experience educative, according to Dewey, is reflective thinking. Reflective thinking provides a bridge between what is observed (read) and experienced (done) on the one hand, and what is to be learned (concepts and ideas), on the other. It is the job of the educator to help walk students along that bridge, beginning with what they know at the outset (What do they know?), challenging them to extend their learning through analysis and synthesis (What should they know?), and assessing what they’ve learned (What did they learn?). The process should follow something like this:

Where possible, it is important to engage learners in four different stages of learning: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation – so that learning is a process. David Kolb (1984) asserts that learning is most effective when the learner is fully engaged in a cycle of:

1. Feeling (concrete experience);
2. Watching and listening (reflective observation);
3. Thinking (abstract conceptualization); and
4. Doing (active experimentation).

Grrlstories.org has organized a set of learning activities that follow these "best practices" of effective learning strategies. Each of the proposed activities not only vary in form (reading, writing, doing, telling), but they vary in intensity, or learning stage (feeling, watching and listening, thinking, and doing). To optimize learning results, we suggest that you group a set of these activities together, targeting various forms and learning stages.

Resources about Service-Learning:

"The aim of education is to enable individuals to continue their education...the object and reward for learning is continued capacity for growth." John Dewey’s, Democracy and Education, (1935) is available online at http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/projects/digitexts/dewey/d_e/contents.html.

National Youth Leadership Council

http://www.nslc.org

National Service-Learning Cooperative Clearinghouse

http://www.nicsl.coled.umn.edu

The Home of Service-Learning on the World-Wide Web

http://csf.colorado.edu/sl/index.html

Service-Learning Journals Online

http://csf.colorado.edu/service-learning/journals.html

More About Girls and Learning: Resources for Parents and Teachers

Books about Mentoring:

Mentoring And The Rites Of Passage For Youth
by Ralph Steele

(1998)
RALVON Books; ISBN: 1570874085

For All Our Daughters : How Mentoring Helps Young Women and Girls Master the Art of Growing Up
by Pegine Echevarria

(1998)
Chandler House Press; ISBN: 188628413X

Books about Rites of Passage:

Crossroads : The Quest for Contemporary Rites of Passage
by Louise Carus Mahdi (Editor), Nancy Geyer Christopher (Editor), Michael Meade (Editor)

(1996)
Open Court Publishing Company; ISBN: 0812691903

Books about Daughters and Girls:

Strong, Smart, & Bold : Empowering Girls for Life
by Carla Fine, Jane Fonda

(2001)
Cliff Street Books; ISBN: 0060197714

How Jane Won : 55 Successful Women Share How They Grew from Ordinary Girls to Extraordinary Women
by Sylvia B. Rimm, Sylvia, Dr Rimm, Sara Rimm-Kaufman (Contributor)

(2001)
Crown Pub; ISBN: 0609607588

A Toolbox for Our Daughters : Building Strength, Confidence, and Integrity
by Annette W. Geffert, Diane Hughes Brown

(2000)
New World Library; ISBN: 1577311205 ;

Girls Seen and Heard : 52 Life Lessons for Our Daughters
by The Ms. Foundation for Women, Sondra Forsyth, Carol Gilligan (Preface)

(1998)
Putnam Publishing Group ISBN: 087477926X

The Girls' Guide to Life : How to Take Charge of the Issues That Affect You
by Catherine Dee, Cynthia Jabar (Illustrator), Carol Palmer (Photographer)

Reading level: Ages 9-12
(1997)
Little Brown & Co (Juv Pap); ISBN: 0316179523