Plan-do-reflect (pedagogy pattern)

Intent Structure team working sessions.

Motivation Student teams waste time by not planning the work that they will do in a time-bound activity session. They also tend to focus so much on the work products they are creating that they are unaware of the process of their own learning.

Applicability Use a PDR when student teams are trying to apply what they have learned by doing an activity - an exercise, project, or case study assignment.

Structure
Plan Document a Plan for the session. A Plan can be as informal as notes on a whiteboard, or can be captured on a computer. Plan should identify how long to spend on each activity, and who will take various team roles (leader, scribe, etc.).
Do Carry out the Plan.
Reflect Explicitly focus on what was learned in the session, what worked, what didn't work, etc. Reflection can be done individually and/or by a group; it can be informal discussion or formal response to written question(s).
Consequences
  • Ensures that the student teams create a Plan for carrying out the assignment; this supports better time management, as well as a feeling of student empowerment.

  • Encourages the students to be explicit about what they learned (or didn't learn) by incorporating a reflection activity into the work session.

  • Takes longer than "just doing the assignment" because of the planning and reflection activities. However, the students seem to get more learning out of the technical assignment, especially if the Reflection session is effective.

  • May result in reflection sessions that simply go through the motions, especially if not enough time is given, or if the Reflection is not structured.

  • Implementation The total time to schedule for the PDR session should include expected time to complete the technical assignment, plus time for the Planning and Reflection. Sample 90-minute PDR: Plan (10 min.), Do (60 min.), Reflect(20 min.).

    A structured Reflection session is usually more effective than open discussion ("Ok, what did we learn?"). Either the team or a faculty mentor can supply the structure. A page with open-ended questions and space for writing answers works well. Students answer the questions individually; and then may share their answers with the group and discuss. Sample questions: "What was the most interesting thing you learned in this session?" "What was the coolest thing your team came up with today?" "If you could start this session over, what is one thing you would do the same? One thing you would do differently?"

    Related pattern The PDR can be used to structure the Activity component(s) of the Extended Unit pattern.

    [Source: Susan Lilly, "Patterns for Pedagogy", Object Magazine, Jan 96, p93]