Reflektion - En strategi för kreativitet och lärande med mening

Abstract

My study aims to examine the concept of reflection, what it means and also link it to working with reflection in the learning process, primarily focusing on art and creativity.

The main question in this paper is: What does it mean to reflect? and: How can you work reflective in a creative process? In order to answer my questions I have used a qualitative textual analysis on a range of texts dealing with reflection, primarily focusing on the educational field. The results of the analysis are then linked to my own experiences including art educational work with emphasis on contemporary art.

My results show that there are many similarities between the process of reflection and the creative process. Both involves exploration, investigating the processes which emanate from something that is interesting, surprising or disturbing. It emanates from your own thoughts, but is at the same time creating a distance from them. The distance means that you catch sight of yourself and your pre-understandings and opens up to other possible perspectives, which in turn deepens your understanding of yourself and of the world. Working with a reflective process requires, amongst others, time, structure and security. Methods and resources for this are often lacking in school. My study shows that working with art and aesthetic learning processes can provide strategies, and a good entry to, the process of reflection in learning, as art by its nature is often based on contradictions, is illogical and has no easy answers or given truths.