Opening Up Service-Learning Reflection by Turning Inward: Developing Mindful Learners Through Contemplation

 In this chapter, the author briefly summarizes the purpose of reflection in service-learning, as well as the most common mediums of reflection as delineated through a review of the field's most recommended guides/resources. He then links the overuse of certain reflection processes with mindlessness and learner automatization, which might be countered through contemplative practices that support the development of mindfulness. Stewart discusses contemplation, its absence from Western education, and its link to service-learning through spirituality. A critique of Kolb's model vis-a-vis mindfulness precedes his call for "opening up" service-learning epistemology and the infusion of introspection through a new "Bicycle Wheel Model."