Reflecting on failure

By: Brook Sattler, PhD, CPREE multi-campus coordinator

Reflection can be characterized as learning from the past, even thinking about the past in service of the future (Turns, et al., 2014). At The Stanford Resilience Project they are supporting students in learning from their failures.

It is an effort to normalize setbacks and help students reflect on and learn from their failures. The underlying assumption of the resilience project is that learning through reflecting on setbacks is a key to student success. The Resilience Project’s core ideas are: (1) learn about learning, (2) seek advice, (3) get perspective, and (4) connect with community. The purpose of this type of reflection is to develop resilience through learning and growing from failure.

Citations

The Stanford Resilience Project

KC, D., Staats, B. R., & Gino, F. (2012). Learning from My Success and From Others’ Failure: Evidence from Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery, Harvard Business School working paper.

Turns, J., Sattler, B., Yasuhara, K., Borgford-Parnell, J., & Atman, C.J. (2014). Integrating Reflection into Engineering Education. In ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition. Retrieved from http://www.asee.org/file_server/papers/attachment/file/0004/4292/Integrating_Reflection_-_ASEE_2014_-_Final.pdf