Reasoning

About the Authors

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to move from what today would be called a medically based approach to a more occupation-based approach. It was Wendy who first suggested to Barbara that what she was focusing on was clinical reasoning. From this early beginning, Bar bara went on to become what she called a “clinical reasoning groupie,” closely fol lowing the unfolding research of the Clinical Reasoning Study. After leaving Harmarville, Barbara pursued her doctoral work in Adult Educa tion at the University of Georgia, where she was fortunate to have Dr Ron Cervero as her advisor. Ron, who is internationally known for his scholarship on continu ing professional education, pushed Barbara to articulate her concerns with the limitations of clinical reasoning as it had been described to date. That effort ulti mately resulted in her introduction of the concept of pragmatic reasoning to the field (Schell & Cervero, 1993). After completing her doctoral work, Barbara became involved in academia, founding the occupational therapy program at Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia. This effort required her to move from thinking about how to develop prac titioners in the field to how to give them the best start possible. During the 20 plus years that Barbara worked at Brenau, she continued to review and synthesize the literature in numerous publications, develop undergraduate and graduate courses related to professional reasoning, and provide continuing education and consulta tion to managers and educators on how to support effective clinical reasoning in practice. From this work, she conceptualized the Ecological Model of Professional Reasoning. She also initiated the Clinical and Professional Reasoning Scholars net work, which is an international group of 60 plus occupational therapy colleagues. In 2016, Barbara retired from full-time academics at Brenau as a Professor Emer ita. Since her retirement, Barbara has continued to support scholars from a variety of countries who are interested in clinical and professional reasoning. Her pro fessional contributions in this area are primarily through keynote presentations, workshops, academic consultations, and by serving as a reviewer or external mem ber on a number of doctoral dissertation and capstone projects. She also remains an active writer and editor, retiring as the lead editor for Willard and Spackman’s Occupational Therapy after the 13th edition. SHAPING PRACTICE: JOHN’S PURSUIT OF LEARNING AND TEACHING Just as Barbara has a long history of assisting practitioners as an occupational therapy manager and educator, John has an even longer one researching the na ture of social learning that can serve as a foundation for effective contextual teach ing. After graduating with a degree in Social Studies from Central Missouri State University, John spent early years in Kansas City, Missouri, as a local manager of federally funded employment and training programs. These experiments of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s in social engineering aspired to promote a strong Ameri can workforce among the economically disadvantaged through vocational training and education. During this period, he earned a master’s degree at the University of Utah, David Eccles School of Business. In 1978, John became State Coordinator for School to Work Transition in the State of Missouri. Subsequently, he became State Supervisor in the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for federally funded adult vocational education in a wide area of the state. Eventually, John’s path led to the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he earned his PhD. After graduating, he started a successful educational consulting firm that contin ues today as Schell Consulting. Later, he became an administrator at the Allegany

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