For students to learn something there is need for variation which impacts on their level of awareness on any particular thing at any given time. In variation theory (which is discussed in more detail in the next section) learning is always the learning
of something, and the object of learning is the capability to do something with something (Marton & Tsui, 2004; Runesson, 2006).
Medical students, for instance, might be advised by their professors to try to notice different features of their patients, such as the color of the lips, the moisture of the skin, the ease of breathing, and so on; this is being told. But in order to follow this advice, the students must experience those features, and the only way to experience them is to experience how they can vary. Noticing the color of a patient’s lips, for example, would not mean very much if lip color was the same for everyone (Marton & Tsui, 2004:10).
This example given above is a demonstration of how educators assist students to see variation and also bring the issues to the direct focus of the students, the object of learning. As Linder and Marshall (2003:275) observe:
…learning is about changing those aspects of the phenomenon that are present in the theme, and the role of teaching is to focus on the educationally critical aspects…
Approaching learning this way widens the space of variation for the learner. Those aspects which are brought into the learner’s focal awareness are learnt better than those which remain in the thematic field.
The way individuals experience something is the unit of phenomenographic research. According to Marton and Booth (1997:113), a way of experiencing something is: “…an internal relationship between the experiencer and the experienced.”
A way of experiencing something is:
…experiencing something as something, experiencing a meaning that is dialectically intertwined with a structure… a way of discerning something from, and relating it to, a context. The meaning of something for someone at a particular point in time corresponds to the pattern of parts or aspects that are discerned and are simultaneously objects of focal awareness (Marton & Booth, 1997:112).
As mentioned earlier, when something is discerned and becomes an object of focal awareness it means that there is variation in the sphere of focus. According to Marton and Pong (2005) “variation theory” is a further development of phenomenography, focusing on the structural aspect of a conception with particular
reference to structures within conceptions, not between conceptions. Variation theory sees phenomenography as making allowances for variation in human meaning, understanding, conceptions, awareness or ways of experiencing a particular phenomenon (Åkerlind, 2005). Learning is multi-faceted and complex and, therefore, requires a method that can shed light on what it is possible to learn in terms of what may be discerned, and also identify critical conditions in the learning environment (Runesson, 2005).
Marton and Ling (2007) contend that most learning theories adopt a psychological perspective but variation theory starts with a pedagogical interest. Variation enables the researcher to identify the structure of awareness underlying the students’
varying experience of phenomena. In Learning Study by Marton and Ling, variation theory was used to design learning situations (Runesson, 2006; Marton & Ling, 2007). Variation theory reveals significant features of teaching and learning, thus illuminating what is critical for learning.
Different learning outcomes may signify a difference in perception of the same phenomenon. This difference in perception may result in students failing to focus on critical aspects as intended by the teacher. This challenges assumptions about learning and teaching.
Teaching becomes a conscious structuring act, in which the teacher is supposed to mould learning experiences for students, to make it possible for them to discern the critical aspects required for understanding an object of learning in a particular way (Marton & Ling, 2007:42).
According to Marton and Ling (2007:42-43):
What is enacted makes it possible for students to learn an object of learning, but what is lived depends on how each individual student experiences the lesson.
In this study on students’ experiences of integration, the focus was on finding out the lived object of learning. One of the questions that students were asked was:
What do you see as integration of learning ability? What would make you say “I am able to integrate?”
In variation theory, what is learned is of central importance because people act in relation to situations as they see them. According to Kneebone (2002) to practise medicine well requires the integration of intellect, skill and emotion. In medicine and the care of human beings, how the situation is seen is of decisive importance and powerful ways of acting originate from powerful ways of seeing (Pang & Marton, 2003).
In phenomenography, according to Sandberg (2000), the term “conception” is used to refer to people’s ways of experiencing or making sense of their world. There is a close relationship between what is conceived and how it is conceived. In this study, attempts were made to explore this relationship by asking students:
What is integration of learning?
How does integration of learning take place?
What helps you to integrate learning?
For students to conceive of integration they need to be aware of it. According to Marton and Booth (1997:108):
In order to experience something as something, we must be able to discern it from and relate it to a context, and be able to discern its parts and relate them to each other and to the whole.
The questions asked above were a further attempt to determine students’
awareness of the concept integration and how they discern it from and relate it to the context of learning.