Stories, Toys and Music: Influences on a Student Engagement Metaphor

Abstract

This paper explores how a metaphor was developed into a visual tool used for teaching self reflection. The paper documents how we three academics embarked upon a series of action learning sets to discuss how we can help students develop their capacity for reflexivity through doing so ourselves. In undertaking the action learning sets, we developed the idea of a visual metaphor to explain how learning reflexivity is a continually moving forwards process. We designed and developed a metaphor for self reflection into a visual moving object termed a ‘mandala’. This, we argue, can aid in teaching self reflection by reminding the viewer that the process of reflection is a continuous one. This paper weaves many facets representing self reflection, visual metaphors and student engagement. Using a simple image to illustrate the process of self reflection, we argue, can help academics teach a nebulous subject and students understand a cerebral process.