Critical event recognition: An extended view of reflective learning

This inductive case study extends existing reflective learning theory by introducing the concept of critical event recognition. We define this as the cognitive process through which individuals conclude that they are facing a critical learning point that demands a change of thoughts and actions. Extant theory has described reflection and learning as processes of interaction among an individual’s various experiences and has emphasized that critical events are important for these processes. Yet, theory has largely ignored how learners develop task-specific cognitions from such critical events when they lack previous task-specific experiences to which they can relate the reflection. This study proposes an extended perspective on reflective learning by shedding light on event recognition and by illustrating how cognitive development may progress when the individual has little prior experience with which to integrate the reflection from critical events.