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MENTAL MODEL · M8235

Reflective Inquiry

Reflective Inquiry
Learn & MetacognitionmediumLearning Science
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Updated 2026-08-11

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INTRODUCTION

English translation pending.

CORE DEFINITION

Reflective inquiry grows out of John Dewey's account of inquiry, in which a situation becomes problematic only when it is deliberately treated as doubtful. Its core proposition is that the inquirer must interrogate their own hypotheses, methods, and evidence while the investigation is still running, not only at the end. The key qualification is that reflection must target the process itself rather than the subject matter alone, and must continue until the original uncertainty is genuinely resolved instead of quietly set aside.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Use assumption audit: write down the belief you are acting on and ask what evidence would disconfirm it. - Use alternative scan: force at least two rival explanations before committing to one. - Use method check: pause mid-inquiry to ask whether your approach can answer the question.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Dewey's account treats inquiry as starting from an indeterminate situation that must be actively converted into a problem. Because the problem is constructed rather than given, the inquirer's own framing is a possible source of error. Periodic reflection surfaces those framings, exposes untested assumptions, and reopens options that early commitment had closed. Each pass narrows the gap between what is claimed and what the evidence supports, which is why inquiry that reflects on itself converges on defensible answers instead of merely confirming the first hypothesis.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Practice this model in one real situation:

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Source support: Explicit

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    doi.orghttps://doi.org/10.1177/002248718603700402ZH · Explicit
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