[Year 12 IT Apps] Task 3 I'm still confused

[Timmer-Arends]

Hello Russel and others
> I think I am  highly reflective, yet I mainly do this exclusively 
> mentally. If I do  set something down, it will be in the form of textual 
> notes, mainly  to compensate for a poor memory but also sometimes to sift 
> and sort  my thoughts. Should students like me flunk because they don't 
> think  in fishbones?

just to throw my two cents in, I would put reflective thinking in the same 
category as design: once you've done enough of it you can do quite a bit 'in 
your head' (although even experienced minds overflow and need to record), 
but students don't necessarily have that experience: they need to learn how 
to design and this is facilitiated by having to do it on paper. They also 
have to be shown different ways of representing design because one way does 
not suit all situations.

The same with reflection: asking a student to simply reflect without asking 
them to get their reflections out of their head onto, in this case, the 
screen I would argue would often lead nowhere. Setting down their thoughts 
allows them to learn how to reflect; for example, initially they may have 
just one idea, but by putting it down they can see it in front of them and 
this may prompt another idea because now their brain is free from having to 
hold the inital idea in front of itself - and so on (does this make sense?). 
And as you say, because we are all different, some students may find 
fishbones the best thing since slice bread, so I would say that in some ways 
they ought to be exposed to a variety of visual and textual techniques so 
that they can find what works best for them.

Regards
Robert T-A