Science Education Journal

In their first few years of teaching, some teachers may find they still do not have answers to many unsettling classroom learning issues and situations which can cause great stress and ultimately, burn-out. One way to take control of the situation is for teachers to keep a reflective learning log, which can help them vent and at the same time, help them become better teachers.

By taking more responsibility to become involved in their own learning process, reflective journals can guide teachers’ evaluation of the effectiveness of the quality of their teaching and assessment. Reflective learning is at the center of the inquiry process.

Using a Reflective Journal

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Scholarly journals provide the primary means through which researchers in all academic fields share information with their peers. The vast majority of these periodicals appear quarterly, but the frequency of publication can range from weekly issues to a single annual volume.

The content of these journals is directed at a limited and readily identifiable audience of academics, usually linked to membership in a particular scholarly or professional association. The journal’s scope can be very broad, as is the case with journals like Science and Nature, which publish articles in all areas of the physical, life, and social sciences. Or the scope can be quite narrow, as in the case of journals like Children’s Literature in Education and Journal of High Resolution Chromatography.

Inclusion of articles in these publications is controlled through the peer review process, a double-blind procedure, whereby an editor distributes a manuscript from an anonymous author to two or three anonymous reviewers who determine whether the manuscript meets the disciplinary and editorial standards to merit publication in the journal.

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