1st Edition

Necessary Conditions of Learning

By Ference Marton Copyright 2014
    324 Pages
    by Routledge

    324 Pages
    by Routledge

    Necessary Conditions of Learning presents a research approach (phenomenography) and a theory (the variation theory of learning) introduced and developed by Ference Marton and taken up by his wide and varied following around the world—together with their practical applications in educational contexts. Reflecting Marton’s whole lifetime's work, the unique and significant contribution of this book is to offer an evidence-based answer to the questions "How do we make novel meanings our own?" and "How do we learn to see things in more powerful ways?"

    The presentation makes use of hundreds of empirical studies carried out in Europe and Asia which build on the theory. The line of reasoning and the way in which the examples are put together is consistent with the theory—it is both presented and applied. The main argument is that in order to learn we have to discern, and to discern the intended ideas we must be presented with carefully structured variation, against a background of invariance. We then go through processes of contrast, generalization, and fusion in order to make sense. These insights form a practical framework for those who design teaching and teaching materials. Necessary Conditions of Learning is a major original work for which scholars of pedagogical theory have been waiting a long time.

    Preface

    1. What makes humans human?

    Cultural evolution

    The species that teaches its offspring

    The origin of pedagogy

    Learning from others

    Learning as a by-product and learning as an aim

    "De-pedagogizing" learning

    Pedagogies of learning

    Teachers’ professional knowledge

    What this book is about

    2. What is to be learned?

    What matters?

    Organizing learning

    What is to be learned?

    Learning as differentiation

    Different meanings of what is to be learned

    3. Sameness and difference in learning

    The problem with direct reference

    Discerning features that have been discerned previously

    Discerning features that have not been discerned previously

    We do have to learn to discern features whether or not they are innate

    Learning to discern novel features and aspects

    Dimensions of variation, and values*

    Neither from the specific to the general, nor the other way around

    Patterns of variation and invariance

    The path of learning

    Critical aspects and critical features again

    Why is the experience of difference, against a background of the experience
    of sameness, necessary for learning to discern novel features and novel
    aspects?

    Delimitation

    Grouping

    Differences and experienced differences

    Discernment, difference, simultaneity

    Discerning and learning to discern

    Using the known to prepare for the unknown

    The transfer of learning

    4. What does the world look like to others?

    The revelation of Jonas Emanuelsson

    What is to be learned, again: Ways of seeing

    Finding critical aspects

    The learner’s perspective and the observer’s perspective

    Logic and understanding

    Asking questions

    Analyzing answers

    The idea of phenomenography

    Qualitative differences in learning, specific to specific objects of learning

    5. The art of learning

    Learners generating patterns of variation and invariance

    Discoveries as discernments

    Innovations and the opening up of new dimensions of variation

    Finding novel meanings

    6. Making learning possible

    Three faces of the object of learning

    Necessary conditions of necessary conditions of learning

    The origin of differences

    Analysing lessons

    Comparing teaching

    Relating learning and teaching to each other

    Bringing about learning: Patterns of variation and invariance as tools for
    planning and conducting teaching

    Bringing learning about: Implementing patterns of variation and
    invariance

    Bringing about learning: The order of things

    Hierarchical and sequential structure in reading and writing

    Can the "art of learning" be learned?

    There are no teaching experiments

    Putting conjectures to the test

    The Chinese connection

    7. Learning to help others to learn

    What teachers have to be good at

    Biography

    Ference Marton is Professor of Education at the Göteborg University, Sweden and Honorary Professor at the Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong. He is internationally known for introducing the distinction between deep and surface approaches to learning, for developing phenomenography as a methodology for educational research, and more recently for developing the variation theory of learning. Both the methodology and theory were developed by Marton together with research groups in Sweden, the UK, Australia, and China.

    "Marton has provided an outstanding exposition of his lifetime’s thought. Through describing research and teaching in a variety of subjects he exemplifies the theory of learning through discernment of variation. This stimulating and scholarly book acts both as a handbook for design of teaching and teaching materials, and as a basis for understanding more about learning in educational contexts."

    Anne Watson, University of Oxford, UK