Reflective Analysis

By: Ryan Bradshaw

For: Dr. White
May 12, 2014
Part 1 My previous way of knowing
Back in January, when I first started this course, I felt I had developed a strong personal
way of knowing, trying to experience everything first hand. I loved being able to refer back to
my own experiences as a way that I was sure that something was true and correct. For example, I
believed I knew what it was like to be the minority in an environment (as, being a white, English
speaking male in North America, this was a rare situation for me) because I had studied abroad in
China and had been the minority in that situation. I also believed I knew what the university
experience was like for every student, as I had been a university student. I may be foreshadowing
a bit, but I no longer believe that to be true.
In the past, I always had additional tools available to me (textbooks, courses, speaking to
other people about their experiences, reading historical accounts or news reports), however, I
never necessarily considered anything to be true unless I could experience it first hand. This was
seen through my struggles with courses like chemistry and biology, and concepts like magnetism
in physics. I could grasp chemistry concepts that could be shown to me through experiments, for
example, if you mixed baking soda (a base) and vinegar (an acid), the reaction was a type of
explosion. I knew this to be true because I could conduct the experiment and observe it. I
struggled with theoretical concepts related to chemical equations because there was no way to
actually see atoms and electrons changing place and forming new bonds because the molecules
are so tiny and the concepts are abstract. I always questioned, how do we know this to be 100%
correct since it is hard to actually observe these things happening?

This had been my primary way of knowing and the one I relied on to prove to myself that
things were in fact true.
Part 2 How this way of knowing developed
Thinking back to my childhood, I believe my parents had a great impact on the way I
came to know by allowing me to be very inquisitive. Most children are inquisitive in nature at a
young age and begin trying things out on their own when they are nearing 2 years of age. My
parents nurtured this and encouraged me to keep up those actions as I grew up. My parents love
experiencing things as well and I believe that affected the way they brought up my younger
sisters and me.
A great example of this is when former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau passed
away in 2000. Being a high school student, I had learned about great leaders and about the way
nations honored their fallen leaders with state funerals. Instead of just reading about Trudeaus
passing and watching video clips of the funeral on television, my parents made the spontaneous
decision to, as a family, drive up to Montreal and be there for the funeral. I was able to see
former presidents and prime ministers gathering to salute a fellow legend, observe the funeral
procession through Old Town Montreal and see all of the people who revered Trudeau as a great
leader.
This was not the only trip of this nature that my parents took us on, but I think it
exemplifies how we as a family came to know. We always lived in the same place, but regularly
travelled across North America and visited historical sites and museums along the way, there
were no trips to sit on the beach for a week in Florida for us.
Thinking of some other events that helped me develop my inquisitive and self-reliant
nature include being sent to school in a foreign language in kindergarten, and having to learn to

communicate in French in order to get by in school. I was allowed to walk or take the subway to
school in grade 3 (an idea that flabbergasts many of my friends or parents of friends from rural
areas), I travelled on a choir tour of Spain without my parents when I was 12 and being afforded
the opportunity to visit historical sites, like the Alhambra in Granada or the Rock of Gibraltar,
and have to figure out why it was important to so many people without having my parents there
to guide me. Experiences like this allowed me to be self-sufficient and not rely on others to hold
my hand through my experiential learning process I had people I could rely on for support and
guidance, but I mainly had to figure things out on my own.
While in high school, I also began officiating baseball and ice hockey. This was my first
experience in a position of control and I made quite a few mistakes along the way. A few times, I
allowed power to go to my head, I said inappropriate things, I was authoritarian, and in each of
these experiences, the games I was officiating turned ugly and I stumbled. However, instead of
being scared by the challenge, I learned from it and made sure I did not repeat the same mistakes.
In university, I went travelled away from home and to a school that none of my high
school friends were attending. This allowed me to again broaden my way of knowing by
experiencing first-hand the life of a traditional college student in a new environment without
continuing with my same old routine. I took advantage of every opportunity I had. I studied
abroad in China and learned about a different culture, I became involved in leadership positions
in Recreation and in New Student Orientation and learned how to run a business, supervise staff,
lead a group, communicate professionally, manage my time and more from those experiences. I
believe I probably learned more from life outside of the classroom than I did from my
experiences in the classroom.

My undergraduate experience led me to learn a lot by trying things out, and probably
learn more by failing at those attempts. Things were not always pretty, I did not always make the
best decisions, I almost lost my chance at attending grad school by failing a course in my final
semester (and having to retake it in the summer), but I learned from those events and made sure I
did not repeat them.
Being unafraid of trying new things and being aware that all experiences would help me
grow and come to know likely influenced my decisions to move to Southern Illinois to pursue a
masters and to Western Canada for my first job. I had no family or friends in either of these
places, but my inquisitive nature pushed me to not be afraid of trying out a new thing.
The typical question to myself before trying something new has been Whats the worst
that could happen? and as long as the answer is not you could easily die or something of
that nature, Ive been willing to try it out. This personal motto has allowed me to come to know
about many things before my friends and colleagues by being willing to attempt new things and
learn from those experiences. I feel it has stemmed from my parents decision to ask similar
questions and try new things out with me from an early age, rendering me unafraid of a new,
challenging experience and helping me come to know.
The fact that Ive always personally answered the Whats the worst that could happen?
question correctly in my opinion, as seen by the fact that Im still alive today and writing this
reflection, has proven to me that this has been a successful tool for me. With that being said,
trying something new is part of the Whats the worst that could happen? concept, and this
allowed me to try to experience some new ways of knowing in this course.

Part 3 How this course affected my way of knowing as a researcher

Entering this course with an open mind to try something new was very beneficial to me.
Many of the concepts used in the course were a bit foreign to me, but being able to think about
them with an open mind and to attempt to implement them first hand has allowed me to grow as
a person and researcher.
This course has opened my eyes to many other ways of knowing than just experiential
learning, which will assist me as I grow as a researcher. Using Descartes method as a foundation
to develop a hypothesis to test my new theories and creating my own narrative to help guide me
through my answer to the hypothesis will be my base for my future research. My knowledge of
historical inquiry and my ability to create my own new narrative of a past event, based on not
only my own experiences, but based on the experiences of other people, will further expand my
knowledge base. I feel I will continue to use my own experiences as a strong basis for decisions,
but will also use more outside sources to help form a more balanced, well rounded picture of
what is going on, not one seen solely from my lens.
This has led, over the last four months, to an almost Kuhn-esque revolution in my own
way of coming to know. I may not quantify it as a full paradigm shift, as I will continue to use
my old way of knowing, however, it has expanded my basis from just one facet to include
multiple, different tools.

Part 4 My current way of knowing

My current way of knowing has grown to include more than just experiential learning. I
will continue to try to learn from my past experiences, but will also learn from the experiences
and documentation from others as well. My project on historical inquiry opened my eyes to not

basing my own version of events on one type of source, but to look at a wide range of materials
and to then formulate my own concept.
For example, if I were studying the student experience I mentioned in part one, I would
no longer base my view on the subject solely on my own undergraduate experience at the
University of Western Ontario. I would instead use that as my foundation, but would then speak
to some of my Western peers, particularly those with different situations than my own (family,
socioeconomic, gender, etc.) and question them about their experiences. I would then speak to
students from other institutions, in Canada and the United States, but also in foreign countries,
and ensure that I surveyed a wide arrange of students and asked them all similar questions. I
could then review historical documents, surveys, journal articles, news articles, and more on the
subject. After examining all of these other options, I could begin to formulate my own, new
narrative on the subject.
The challenge with this is that it is physically impossible to possibly read all of the
material ever written about university experiences or to speak to all of these people. That being
said, my new way of knowing has grown and my deep down goal is to speak to as many people
as possible and to read as much as possible about a subject, rather than just relying on my own
experiences, to create my way of knowing about it.

Part 5 My current way of knowing and its impact on my doctoral study

This course has been very beneficial to my development as I continue my doctoral study.
By having a broader way of knowing, I feel my research, as well as my actions in my own
personal life, will be better served. Instead of relying on trying something out and learning from
the failed experience, I can develop a base knowledge on the subject through inquiry with my

friends and peers and then use that knowledge when asking my Whats the worst that could
happen? question. If my answer still comes out as being relatively low risk, I can still attempt
to come to know through my own experience. The biggest difference will be that that experience
will now only be a portion of my understanding of the subject, not the entire pie.
In my doctoral study, this will allow me to present a much more diverse perspective in
my research, which I hope would make it more credible to my peers. In my personal life, it will
allow me to potentially stumble less and succeed more, by enabling myself to learn not just from
my mistakes, but from the mistakes of others as well. This will allow me to be a much more
well-rounded individual and succeed in my doctoral endeavor.
On a personal note to close, thank you Dr. White for not allowing me to research
Experiential Learning as my new way of knowing. I feel that the experience of researching a
rather foreign concept to me, Historical Inquiry, was much more beneficial to my development as
both a researcher and a person.