Physics tutors’ metalearning development through an extension of Schön's reflective practice

Abstract

A reflective practicum was developed for a group of university physics tutors using Schönian framed coaching experiences. A central theme of the practicum was getting the tutors, as a function of their tutoring practice and its consequences, to reflect on the dynamics of their experiences of academic learning in order to evoke personal metalearning development. Qualitative data collected from this reflection‐on‐learning were use to generate characterizations of the tutors’ metalearning development using a phenomenographic analytic approach. The characterizations, together with illustrative descriptions, reflect the nature of the metalearning development experienced by the tutors. The results suggest that Schön's notion of the role of reflection in teaching and supervision contexts can be meaningfully extended to the context of student learning.