The importance of reflection in classroom inquiry is widely acknowledged, yet educators know more about the difference between reflective and nonreflective work than they know about the process of becoming more reflective. This study proposes a conceptual framework for linking three contexts of inquiry learning: (1) the conceptual terrain of the inquiry domain within which students are to learn to reflect, here called the "data context"; (2) the activity system within which curriculum is enacted by teacher and students, here called the "task context"; and (3) the factors that constitute an individual student's understanding and sense of self, here called the "role context." This framework is used to interpret the changes in modes of inquiry activity and understanding, and the development of more reflective dispositions, of two middle school students as they progress through an inquiry science unit designed by the authors. (Contains 26 figures and 48 references.) (Author/SLD)