Variation theory and the improvement of teaching and learning.

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Autor/in	Lo, Mun Ling
Titel	Variation theory and the improvement of teaching and learning.
Quelle	Göteborg: Acta universitatis Gothoburgensis (2012), 223 S. PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Reihe	Gothenburg studies in educational sciences. 323
Beigaben	grafische Darstellungen
Zusatzinformation	Inhaltsverzeichnis
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; gedruckt; Monographie
ISSN	0436-1121
ISBN	91-7346-725-1; 978-91-7346-725-4
Schlagwörter	Unterrichtsanalyse; Erfolg; Lehrer; Schüler; Lernerfolg; Lehr-Lern-Forschung; Lehr-Lern-Prozess; Lerntheorie; Unterricht
Abstract	This book has a relatively narrow focus, aiming to explain how Variation Theory can be applied to improve teaching and learning in schools. In our experience, some teachers teach better than others. This is an intriguing phenomenon that has stimulated great interest among and investigation by teacher educators and educational researchers. It is believed that if we can understand why this is happening, then we might find the key to teaching for better learning. Learning must be directed towards an object (i.e., an object of learning), and so even if the learning environment is luxurious and high tech, the teachers are kind and caring and the students highly motivated, if the object of learning is very complex and difficult, learning is still unlikely to take place without the teachers' help to tease out the critical aspects and make them available for students. [...] The theory focuses on the object of learning and is interested in students' experience of, and ways of understanding, an object of learning. [...] We engaged in a project that used of Variation Theory as an explanatory framework to account for why some teachers are more effective than others in bringing learning about for their students. We found that Variation Theory helped us to explain why certain teaching enactments did and did not help students to learn effectively, and that this was related to the kinds of patterns of variation that were being enacted in the classroom. We felt at the time that if we were able to use Variation Theory to explain the effect of teaching on student learning, then it would have the potential to be developed into a powerful theory that could be applied in planning lessons and teaching to achieve effective learning, and tried to accomplish this in subsequent projects. It is important for teachers to continue learning to better themselves, and the most effective learning is in the classroom context. Developing a community of learners in schools in which teachers work with their peers to investigate their own teaching and how they can improve through action research will result in the most effective teacher learning. Back in 1999, the Japanese Lesson Study was considered an effective model for teacher development (Stigler & Hiebert, 1999), and we felt that this would be the best model for teachers to work together and learn how Variation Theory can be applied to teaching. As a Lesson Study usually focuses on one lesson and requires a long time (from several months to a year) to study in depth how the lesson should be delivered, it suited our purpose of helping teachers to understand Variation Theory and testing and developing Variation Theory to improve teaching. We developed a special kind of Lesson Study by adapting the procedure of the Japanese Lesson Study, taking inspiration from the idea of teaching study in China and adopting a theoretical framework based on Variation Theory. After 10 years, we have made great advancements in this area. However, there is always a gap between theory and practice, and after engaging in Learning Study many teachers feel that they still do not fully understand Variation Theory and are handicapped when trying to apply it in practice. The main purpose of this book is thus to help teachers to understand how Variation Theory can be applied in practice. The target readers are teachers and educational researchers who are interested in improving classroom teaching and learning. I hope that education administrators and policy makers who are interested in improving the quality of learning will be inspired too. This book does not discuss Variation Theory purely in theoretical terms, but rather attempts to explain Variation Theory through the use of actual classroom examples, which are carefully chosen to illustrate how different elements of the theory can be applied. All learning theories aim to explain learning, and all useful learning theories should be able to find application in classrooms to improve learning and to predict and explain the effect of teaching on student learning outcomes. (DIPF/Orig.).
Erfasst von	DIPF \| Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsforschung und Bildungsinformation, Frankfurt am Main
Update	2013/4