Reflective Thinking Quiz

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About This MicroSim

This self-assessment MicroSim presents six real-world scenarios that test your reflective thinking habits. Each scenario offers four response options representing increasing levels of reflective thinking:

Level 1 - Unreflective Acceptance: Accepting claims without question
Level 2 - Initial Skepticism: Recognizing something seems off, but not investigating further
Level 3 - Evidence-Seeking: Actively looking for evidence and evaluating sources
Level 4 - Deep Reflection: Examining your own biases and cognitive processes alongside the evidence

After each selection, you receive immediate feedback explaining the reflective thinking level of your response. After all six scenarios, a summary profile shows your overall reflective thinking patterns as a bar chart.

How to Use

Read the scenario presented at the top of the screen
Click on the response option (A, B, C, or D) that best matches your honest first reaction
Read the feedback that appears, explaining the level of reflective thinking your choice represents
Click "Next Scenario" to advance to the next situation
After all six scenarios, click "See My Profile" to view your cumulative results
Use the "Try Again" button to retake the quiz and practice more reflective responses

Scenarios Covered

#	Topic	Cognitive Bias Tested
1	News article claim	Media literacy, confirmation bias
2	Disagreement with a teacher	Appeal to authority
3	Unfamiliar cultural practice	Ethnocentrism, perspective bias
4	Friend's emotional testimony	Anecdotal reasoning, emotional bias
5	Contradicted personal belief	Belief perseverance
6	Trusted political source	Authority bias, echo chambers

Iframe Embed Code

You can add this MicroSim to any web page by adding this to your HTML:

<iframe src="https://dmccreary.github.io/theory-of-knowledge/sims/reflective-thinking-quiz/main.html"
        height="602px"
        width="100%"
        scrolling="no"></iframe>

Lesson Plan

Grade Level

IB Diploma Programme (Ages 16-19)

Duration

10-15 minutes

Prerequisites

Basic understanding of what a knowledge claim is
Familiarity with the concept of cognitive bias (helpful but not required)

Activities

Individual Assessment (5-7 min): Students complete the quiz independently, responding honestly to each scenario
Reflection (3-5 min): Students review their profile and journal about which scenarios were most challenging and why
Discussion (5 min): In pairs or small groups, students compare their profiles and discuss: What makes Level 4 thinking difficult? When in daily life do we default to Level 1 or 2?

Assessment

Students write a short paragraph identifying one scenario where they chose a lower-level response and explain what a more reflective approach would look like
Students connect their quiz results to a specific TOK concept (e.g., Ways of Knowing, Areas of Knowledge, or a named cognitive bias)