This paper examines several questions about reflective thinking and its application in education as a way of extending the applications of the concept. An early section offers background on reflection from dictionary definitions and from philosophers such as John Locke and John Dewey. The next section examines educational practice and reflective thinking by tracing the major theories and research in the 1980s and 1990s. The following section explores the nature and definition of reflective thinking in detail including descriptors of the action, and catalysts and topics for reflection. A section on critical thinking and reflection follows and includes discussion of five basic definitions of critical thinking. The next section examines introspection defined as a conceptual companion of reflection that involves a systematic examination of one's own thoughts and thought processes. The next section looks at reflection as a cognitive-developmental activity. The last section deconstructs and constructs a theory of reflection and offers a model that, it is argued, solves some of the difficulties in the preceding sections. In conclusion, it is proposed that the cognitive-developmental explanation and model for reflective processes offered in this paper might demonstrate that reflection is the result of constructions which change because of events or experience, are interdependent and involve prioritization, and may or may not lead to meaningful successive conceptual development unless used as the basis for comprehensive deliberative strategies. Contains 34 references. (JB)