CULTIVATING REFLECTIVE THINKING SKILLS : A GROUNDED THEORY APPROACH

Student Teachers’ experiences in their pre-service journey are important because these experiences would
determine the course of action they would take in their teaching-learning dissemination journey. Thus the
present study attempts to expose pre-service teachers to reflective practices and qualitatively observe the
changes in their reflective practice. The study explores how B.Ed student’s of the batch 2008-09 at K.J
Somaiya Comprehensive College of Education & Research move from one level of reflection to another
through the reflective thinking sessions conducted by the researcher. The participants of the study comprised
of 13 pre-service teachers. The tools used for data collection comprise of writings of participants, researcher
and observer; focused group discussion, interviews, observation, memos, reflective diaries of the
participants, observer and the researcher, and written assignments of the participants. Research findings are
validated through triangulation techniques. The study is a qualitative inquiry and the research methodology
adopted is Grounded Theory. This study uses constant comparative method of data analysis which helps
discuss the research question. The final part of the paper proposes a theory in order to enable participants
to move systematically from one level of reflection to another. The study aims at exposing teacher education
planners and policy makers to the need to incorporate the teaching of reflective thinking skills in teacher
education programs.