A Reflective Study Investigating Looping in Higher Education as a Pedagogical Methodology Model

Abstract

Looping, an educational pedagogical approach in which student groups are taught by the same teacher in successive years, has long been implemented in K-12 schools to various degrees of success. However, little research of its occurrence in higher education settings exists. To address the lack of professional scholarship of looping in colleges and universities, this reflective study examines looping as a pedagogical methodology in teacher education courses at the undergraduate level. Having emerged from several years of the author’s personal looping implementation at both middle school and collegiate levels, this reflective research study seeks to examine how looping in higher education differs from more traditional course delivery models. Grounded in the ecological framework of reflection and reflective methodology, the study looks at looping and proposes ideas for further areas of investigation.