Abstract:
Pre-service teachers are often new to reflection journal writing and do not find the purpose, nor connect it to their own learning. This eight-year quantitative study looked at the academic benefits of reflective journaling by analyzing the number of sentences a student wrote to determine if more reflection corresponded with the overall grade in the course. The study looked at both undergraduate and graduate students, n=849, using a required assignment that did not have a minimum amount of writing to see if students who selected to write more on average received a higher grade in the course overall. The study also looked at template use. The study found statistical significance for both undergraduate and graduate students who wrote more did better in the course and that the use of a template provided a boosting effect to the overall grade. The study looked at the act of writing from a quantitative lens and not from the quality of the writing to assist pre-service teachers in learning to become reflective practitioners. This more quantitative approach to reflective journaling helps provide information to this gap in the literature, while offering a different approach to educators as they work with pre-service teachers.
