Reflective Practices and Their Effect on the Critical Thinking of Prospective Teachers

The aim of the present study was to investigate the reflective practices and their effect on the critical thinking of prospective teachers. The study was experimental in nature, and a single-subject research design was used to conduct the experiment. The researcher used an A-B-A withdrawal design of single-subject research designs to examine the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable. Participants of the study were comprised of all BS (Hons) students from the Department of Education, University of Lahore. The sample of the study comprised 2nd-semester students of BS (Hons). The University of Lahore, through the purposive sampling technique. There are 08 students in BS (Hons), and they all participate in this experimental study. The instructions were implemented in the classroom, and at the end of each week, the researcher administered a test based on the content covered over the past two weeks. Performance tests were developed to measure students' higher-order thinking skills. A one-way repeated measures ANOVA was used to determine the significant difference among the collected data before, during and after treatment, with illustration of visual analysis. Findings of the study revealed a significant effect of reflective practices on critical thinking among prospective teachers during the treatment and withdrawal phase. It is recommended to integrate reflective practice tasks into practicum evaluations, such as teaching journals, critical incident reports, and post-lesson reflections, to help prospective teachers regularly assess and improve their methods.