Reflections
'Experience is not what happens to you;
it's what you do with what happens to you.'
Aldous Huxley
Summary:
Reflection is central to building a deep and rich experience in CAS.
In CAS, reflections enable students to:
Grow in their ability to explore their thoughts, feelings, skills, strengths, limitations and areas for further development.
Examine ideas and consider how they might use prior learning in new contexts.
Reflections constitute the main evidence of progress and CAS learning outcomes in students' CAS portfolios. Learn more about how this works in this section.
Reflections in CAS: The Why and the What
A random event becomes an experience that means something if we define it as such, as Aldous Huxley said.
Something that 'happened' can be interpreted differently by individuals based on their personal contexts, perspectives, beliefs, prior experiences, etc. Our subjective interpretations are usually initiated by our personal reactions and reflections.
We reflect all the time. We think about how our words and actions influence our relationships with other people or a situation at hand. We think about how we did on tests and quizzes, performed at competitive events, and what to do to 'get better', etc. We think about our future plans and how to realise our goals and dreams.
We do these 'self-dialogue' reflections mostly in our heads. But if you think about it, we actually do these with others in conjunction with our personal observations and information intake. This is how we assign meaning to something that 'happened'.
In CAS, students explore their own actions and reflect on their personal growth. The emphasis is on affective factors, such as attitudes, feelings, values, principles, motivation, emotions and self-development.
Furthermore, student learning is said to become enhanced by reflection on choices and actions.
'Reflection leads to improved problem-solving, higher cognitive processes and greater depth of understanding in addition to exploring how CAS experiences may influence future possibilities. '
And it helps students to more consciously shape their identity as global citizens:
“We thoughtfully consider the world and our own ideas and experience. We work to understand our strengths and weaknesses in order to support our learning and personal development.”
(IB Learner Profile)
Reflections in the Diploma Programme 'Core'
'Developing a culture of reflection helps students recognize and understand how to be reflective as well as deciding the best methods and appropriate timing'.
The very 'Core' of theIB Diploma Programme consists of CAS, Extended Essay (EE), and Theory of Knowledge (TOK).
Students reflect in each element in order to dig deeper into:
What they are learning
Why they are learning what they are learning, including critical thinking and analysis skills
How they can pursue their goals.
See the diagram below. Learn more about the different kinds of reflections in the Core here.
IB Diploma Programme Core Reflections:
CAS = Affective (attitudes, personal development, etc.)
TOK = Critical (metacognition, argumentation, etc.)
EE = Process (decision-making, methodology, etc.).
Student Reflection Samples
Have a look at some sample reflections below. They demonstrate the significance of the experience in the writers' personal development (written by different IB Diploma students; permission obtained from writers to display them here).
CAS Reflection Resources
CAS Experiences Defined by Multimodal Reflections
If you already acquired the habit of journalling, then writing reflections on ManageBac should not be intimidating or deemed a waste of time. You may have developed the habit of reflective journalling thanks to some ideas that contributed to developing your own growth mindset. Or you just naturally like to ponder and write down your random thoughts based on your learning, reading for pleasure, and interactions with others.
But what if such reflective writing does not naturally occur to you? Then writing reflections can be an onerous task that is completed just to obtain your IB Diploma... This is not fun or being helpful to you at all!
Read on to find out the different modes through which we can do this.
Reflections can be multimodal and can be done individually or with others. Once you become more aware of the power of the reflective process, you will see that you can utilise your reflections as a response to your pursuits by producing some creative products such as poems, short stories, speeches; musical compositions, dance choreography, artistic or innovative objects, and so forth. Here is a description of reaching this stage of empowerment in the reflective process:
'... the student who understands the purpose and process of reflection would choose the appropriate moment, select the method and decide on the amount of time needed. With this greater sense of autonomy and responsibility, the student may be encouraged to be more honest, forthcoming and expressive, and develop insights including those related to the learning outcomes. The ultimate intention is for students to be independently reflective.'
As previously mentioned, the CAS journey metaphor captures it all; it takes time and every step counts to gain a new understanding of how and what it takes for all of us to grow through our everyday actions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why do we need to write reflections for CAS activities/projects?
A: CAS consists of the ongoing process of 'plan, do and reflect'. See the power point presentation here for a summary of the process and the importance of reflection.
CAS is also known as ‘experiential learning’. An experience is 'an event or occurrence which leaves an impression on someone' (Oxford English Dictionary). Therefore, an experience is more than just a random happening. Experiences can be better understood if you reflected on what you think has actually happened, with other people and different factors involved. Some things may have been beyond your control (e.g. weather, sudden change of events due to illnesses, accidents, political issues, etc.), and it is good to acknowledge that and see how you and your collaborators fared. In 'experiential learning', the learning can only be evaluated through your evaluation of the extent to which the goals and learning targets you set have been achieved. This is the whole point of setting a goal and thinking about the potential benefits of a CAS activity or project to you and others prior to undertaking them. Hence it is important for you to recall and reflect on your experiences to assign meaning to them within the framework of personal development in CAS. Also, as I do not see you every day, your reflections serve as evidence of your CAS work and progress in your ManageBac worksheet.
Please note that reflections are different from activity descriptions and logs. What is the difference? Read on:
Q: What is the difference between activity logs and reflections?
A: Activity logs report the details of the itinerary or actions carried out during a specific event or a period of time. For example, 'I went to Nepal on my GAP trip and trekked for 3 days' is an example of activity report.
Reflections, on the other hand, consist of your thoughts and feelings as you look back on your experience. In your reflections, you would typically start by describing your activities and what you and other people did. Then you would continue by discussing how you felt during a particular moment or phase of an activity or project. This could be triggered by your memories and account of what happened, including the unexpected. You would then continue to discuss how you and others reacted and acted then. For CAS reflections, you need to evaluate the extent to which your goals and targeted CAS learning outcomes were achieved, and what you have learned from your experience in general. You would also discuss what worked well and what did not go so well by analyzing their possible causes and reasons, and what you and the others have done about them. Reflections can also contain your own insights, philosophical thoughts or any incidental observations.
As ManageBac is formally your CAS portfolio, please use accurate spelling and grammar such as capitalization, punctuation, verb agreement (e.g. tenses, singular/ plural forms, etc.).
Q: What is the time frame for writing CAS reflections?
A: As we are all busy, it is easy to forget about reflection writing. It is recommended that you write at least three reflections for each of your ManageBac entries: at the beginning, middle, and end of your CAS experiences and project. Do this while your memories of your experiences are still fresh in your mind.
If you put it off beyond a reasonable span of time, it will be harder for you to recall the details of how you felt and what you did in order to achieve your goals and outcomes. As CAS is meant to be self-directed, please monitor your reflection writing -- make it a habit. This is why reflections, the bulk of your ManageBac work, are the 'other half' of CAS!