Sample Reflection Questions
Backward-looking (What??)
- Does this work tell a story?
- Now that it's over, what are your first thoughts about this overall project/activity? Are they mostly positive or negative? Why?
- What were some of the most interesting discoveries you made while working on this project? About the problem? About the topic? About yourself? About others?
- How much did you know about the subject before we started?
- What process did you go through to produce this piece or complete this project/activity?
- Have you done a similar kind of work in the past (earlier in the year or in a previous course; in school or out of school)?
- What problems did you encounter while you were working on this project/activity? How did you solve them?
- What resources did you use while working on this project/activity? Which ones were especially helpful? Which ones would you use again?
- What were some of my most challenging moments and what made them so?
- What were some of my most powerful learning moments and what made them so?
Inward-looking (So what??)
- What is the most important thing you learned personally during this project/activity?
- How do you feel about this project/activity?
- What were your goals for this project/activity? Did your goals change as you worked on it? Did you meet your goals?
- What does this project/activity reveal about you as a learner?
- What did you learn about yourself as you worked on this project/activity?
- How does this project/activity link to previous experiences/knowledge?
- Did this project/activity change how you looked at this subject/topic?
- What parts of project/activity/outcome do you particularly like? Dislike? Why?
- What did/do you enjoy about this project/activity?
- What did you learn were your greatest strengths?
- What did you learn were your biggest areas for improvement?
- What moments are you most proud of your efforts/involvement?
- In what ways have you improved at this kind of work?
- In what ways do you think you need to improve?
- What was especially satisfying to you about either the process or the finished product?
- What standards did you set for the project/activity? Did you meet those standards?
- Comparing and contrasting this project/activity with a previous project/activity, what changes do you notice? How did those changes come about? What does that tell you about yourself and how you learn?
Outward-looking (So what??)
- How does your project/activity make an impact on others?
- How does your project/activity advance the understanding of the topic?
- How do you feel your project/activity/solution relates to real-world situations and problems?
- If someone else were looking at your project/activity/outcome, what might they learn about the topic?
- If someone else were looking at your project/activity/outcome, what might they learn about who you are?
- What is one thing you want people to notice when they look at your work?
- If you were the instructor, what comments/feedback would you make about this project/activity/outcome? What grade would you give it? Why?
- What were some things your teammates did that helped you to learn or overcome obstacles?
- How did you help others during this process? How do you feel you may have hindered others?
- Did you do your work the way other people did theirs? In what ways did you do it differently/similar?
Forward-looking (What now??)
- What is the next step for this project/activity?
- How will you use what you learned in the future?
- What would you do differently if you were to approach the same problem again?
- What would you change if you had a chance to do this project/activity again?
- What will you change in the next draft/step/version of this project?
- As you look at the outcome, what's one thing that you would like to try to improve upon?
- What's one goal you would like to set for yourself for next time?
- How can you better support and encourage my teammates on future projects?
- What is the next step for this or similar projects?