Gibbs Reflective Cycle and Game ON
Game ON is a children’s book created to encourage resilience in our young ones.
Learn how Gibbs Reflective Cycle has been used in Game ON below
Within Game ON, a modified version of the Gibbs reflective cycle has been integrated in the story to encourage reflection. Reflection can build autonomy and self-mastery, which is a sustainable approach to creating healthy children. To facilitate the concept of reflection, the characters designed within Game ON are challenged through a scenario involving a problem, followed by the actions, consequences and solutions to the issue presented. The Gibbs reflective cycle is demonstrated in the figure below.
However, as this model contains many steps, the author has considered a simplified version of this cycle and has constructed a modified version in accordance with the restorative practice technique. The purpose behind modifying the original version of the Gibbs reflective cycle was in consideration of the target age of the children who would be engaging with these resources.
Before the modified version of the Gibbs reflective cycle was embedded into Game ON, the notion was piloted into two schools to see if the theory would translate to practice. School one was a public school, with the pilot group consisting of 24 Year 1 students (aged 5–6). School two was a Catholic school within the Sutherland Shire in NSW and the pilot group consisted of 24 Year 2 students (aged 7–8). Piloting this aspect of the book demonstrated that children immediately engaged with the concept and were able to demonstrate the process of reflection by drawing upon a past problem, their actions and the associated consequences. The ability of children to relate to the characters facilitates children to use the Gibbs reflective cycle to safely evaluate their behaviour and implement strategies that promote a positive outcome without blame or punishment. Game ON provides an opportunity to evaluate and discuss personal behaviour within the classroom setting and receive constructive feedback from peers about their current choices. In this learning space, children can think through other ways to solve their issues in a safe, peer-mentored environment using appropriate pedagogy. Reflection maintains strong synergy to both the Australian HPE syllabus and the PDHPE K–6 and K–10 syllabi.
Modified version of the Gibbs (1988) reflective cycle, for child-friendly use
