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Despite great interest in the transformative mixed methods, an example of using vignettes in a multiphase mixed methods interventional study has been lacking. This study investigates the social justice problem of poverty in the context of financial education with Hong Kong early adolescent ethnic minority students. The discussion contributes to the field of mixed methods research by demonstrating the use of a vignette-based methodology as a tool for integration, representation, and utilization of participant voices in a multiphase design. The use of joint displays in the form of Venn diagrams illustrates how interdisciplinary research findings that may reveal multiple aspects of noncohering phenomena can be interpreted through simultaneous visualization of integration and diffraction.

Unlike design studio, preparatory modules in the undergraduate Architecture course typically have a high student-teacher ratio and are conducted in a traditional lecture setting. By nature, lecture setting hinders engagement and reduces motivation, eventually lowering student learning outcomes. This study aimed to increase engagement with the content, lecturer, and among peers in a traditional lecture and consequently improve higher cognitive learning outcomes. Wi-Fi-enabled devices as clickers were used in all lectures to implement "pause and recall" with ConcepTests to increase participation and interaction. Lectures were paused every 15-20 min, and students were asked questions of higher cognitive order that required them to apply the concepts covered in an online platform that acted as clickers. For this quasi-non-experimental mixed-method study, 79 students' approach to learning before and after the intervention, perception of using clickers, and learning outcomes were measured for a preparatory module, Environmental Systems in the undergraduate Architecture program. Learning outcomes were measured at various cognitive levels based on Bloom's taxonomy. Students' deep approach to learning increased at the end of the semester (Cohan's d = 0.277 and 0.216 for deep motive and strategy, respectively). Students generally have a positive perception and those who showed a positive attitude towards using clickers achieved better scores at higher cognitive questions in the final test (r[subscript s] = 0.359, p = 0.001). Students with a deep strategy approach to learning reflected increased self-evaluation (r[subscript s] = 0.275, p = 0.022) and study behavior (r[subscript s] = 0.263, p = 0.029) to use clickers. Clickers used to pose 'ConcepTest' questions to execute "pause and recall" in a large lecture class had a positive impact on student performance. Semi-structural interviews were performed to further explain the findings. Results were consistent with the generative theory of learning. The timing and design of clicker questions followed by a discussion were particularly beneficial in improving critical thinking among students.

Visual instruction complementing verbal lectures is known to promote learning among students. In this study, the role of visual instruction in engaging learners effectively via the simplification of technical concepts was examined. Different aspects of visualisation, such as order of presenting and dimensionality, were tested to observe their effect on students' approach to learning and learning outcomes. In this mixed-method quasi-non-experimental explanatory study, visual instruction was applied in one of the undergraduate architecture modules that teaches fundamentals of building systems, which students often find difficult to comprehend. Three key variables, including spatial cognitive ability, approach to learning and learning outcomes, were measured using statistically valid instruments along with students' feedback and interviews. These factors were also measured for the control group that did not receive visual instruction (n = 32), to assess the effect of the intervention. When taught with visualisation, students (n = 69), showed a significant increase in deep approach to learning (e.g., deep motive: t = 2.584, p = 0.011). In interviews, students expressed a deeper interest in the subject and reported that the topic was engaging in class. Visualisation favours students with a higher spatial ability and, thus, is useful for design students who receive spatial ability training in the course. Two-dimensional visuals must be followed and preceded by three-dimensional visuals to provide advanced organisation and the connection of new knowledge with known organisational models to be made.

While higher education teachers are able to use information in sophisticated ways to learn and communicate within their disciplines, they may not be accustomed to teaching their students to use information creatively and reflectively to support their work in a course. This article introduces "informed learning design", a curriculum design model by which teachers specifically enable students to learn course content through intentional engagement with information. Drawing from informed learning pedagogy and the variation theory of learning, the design model outlines an instructional pattern for enabling student awareness of critical aspects and features of the object being studied related to both information use and course content.

In helping learners to make a novel meaning their own, such as when helping children to understand what a word means or teaching students a new concept in school, we frequently point to examples that share the aimed-at meaning but differ otherwise. This type of approach rests on the assumption that novel meanings can be acquired through the experience of sameness against a background of difference. This paper argues that this assumption is unfounded and that the opposite is the case: we make novel meanings our own through the experience of differences against a background of sameness. We put this conjecture to the test in an experimental study by embedding it in a computer game and the results support the conjecture.

Though there has been an increased focus on climate change in Hong Kong's educational policy and curriculum over the last decade, little is known about the impact of curricular implementation on young people's environmental and climate change-related views, attitudes, awareness, or behaviors. This paper examines the state of climate change education in Hong Kong based on findings from a multi-pronged investigation. The main research questions addressed are: (1) what are Hong Kong secondary students' understandings of and attitudes towards climate change issues? and (2) is there any significant difference between students studying in local and international schools in Hong Kong? The paper provides a content analysis of climate change curriculum in local and international schools. It reports on a large-scale survey of international and local school students' environmental attitudes, and on qualitative interviews of their awareness and behaviors related to climate change. We conclude with reflections on the implications of this study for climate change education in Hong Kong in the future and vital areas for further research.

In this study, the systematic use of variation and invariance in the teaching of mathematics is examined in accordance with two different but compatible explicit frameworks. We consider the following: (1) differences in tasks that follow on from each other can significantly change what can be learned; (2) Chinese teachers (and probably those in other high achieving countries in South-East Asia) pay considerable attention to the differences between tasks that follow on from each other; and (3) nonetheless, experienced teachers inspired by the two frameworks both of which pay attention to how tasks that follow on from each other can differ, while teaching the same mathematical topic, may still generate very different patterns of tasks and thereby make very different kinds of learning possible. Two experienced Hong Kong teachers devised and planned a series of lessons on the addition and subtraction of three-digit numbers, together with an expert on an explicit framework for systematic use of variation and invariance. Two Shanghai teachers did the same, together with an expert on a different, but compatible, framework. This paper focuses on the analysis of two lessons, one in Hong Kong and one in Shanghai, both being the first of their respective series. The video-recorded lessons were analysed with the aim of illustrating similarities and differences in terms of the systematic use of variation and invariance. These were not intended to be model lessons illustrating the respective frameworks of variation, but rather were examples of the ways teachers consciously and systematically make use of variation and invariance, as inspired by the two frameworks.

Over the years, two new strands of research have evolved from the phenomenographic research tradition: the first concerns advancement of the variation theory of learning, whilst the second involves development of the learning study approach. In this paper, the conceptual frameworks of phenomenography, variation theory, and learning studies are critically examined, and we revisit the notion of "critical aspects," one of the running threads connecting the three research strands. More specifically, we highlight the notion's relational nature and its relationship with so-called irrelevant aspects. We further argue that we must take care not to lose sight of its connection to the basic tenets of the wider phenomenographic research paradigm to ensure that learning studies make a powerful contribution to education.

Parents in dysfunctional family situations and those in intact well-functioning families have distinct requirements for parental learning and parent education. For intact well-functioning families, a developmental-educational paradigm for parent education is more appropriate. Although school-based parent education is ideal for well-functioning families, most policy makers and school leaders have overlooked the utility of this approach. Recent studies, however, have provided further support for in-school parent education. This paper presents some of the results from new research on parental learning and offers findings in support of in-school parent education.

Two studies are reported in this paper. The object of learning in both is the economic principle of changes in price as a function of changes in the relative magnitude of changes in demand and supply. The patterns of variation and invariance, defining the conditions compared were built into pedagogical tools (text, graphs, and worksheets). The first study is the latest in a series of studies aiming to test the fundamental conjecture of the Variation Theory of Learning that new meanings are acquired from experiencing differences against a background of sameness, rather than experiencing sameness against a background of differences. The study compares the learning outcomes under conditions consistent with the basic conjecture with the learning outcomes under conditions not consistent with the theory. The results support the conjecture. The second study shows, however, that the conditions that are consistent with the theory cannot be decided unless the learners' pre-requisites for the task in question are taken into consideration. One set of the pedagogical tools was found to be highly effective for learners with a better initial grasp of the object of learning, while another set was found to be equally effective for learners with a weaker initial grasp of the object of learning. The two sets were equally ineffective when used for the "wrong" group of learners.

Although researchers have demonstrated that studying multiple examples is more effective than studying one example to facilitate learning, the principles found in the literature for designing multiple examples remain ambiguous. This paper reviews variation theory research on example design which sheds light on unclear issues regarding the effects of example variability. First, the distinction of surface/structural should be replaced by critical/uncritical in example study. Aspects and features that are critical to students' understanding should be identified and compared in example design. Second, variation as well as similarity among examples should be taken into consideration in example design. Certain patterns of variation and invariance should be adopted to systematically determine the variability of examples. Third, students with different levels of prior knowledge perceive different aspects of examples that are critical for their learning. Examples should be designed according to aspects that are critical to specific students.

The lesson study approach is a systematic process for producing professional knowledge about teaching by teachers, and has spread rapidly and extensively in the United States. The learning study approach is essentially a kind of lesson study with an explicit learning theory--the variation theory of learning. In this paper, we argue that having an explicit learning theory adds value to lesson study, as the variation theory of learning serves as a source of guiding principles for the teachers when they engage in pedagogical design, lesson analysis and evaluation. Through the use of two Hong Kong learning study cases, one from each of the two major ways of conducting learning study, we demonstrate the power of variation theory in explaining and predicting the relationship between what has taken place in the classroom and what the learners learn, and subsequently identifying ways to improve student learning through promoting teacher professional learning in a learning study setting. (Contains 11 tables and 1 figure.)

In experiment 1, novice fourth-grade students (N = 92) who compared multiple examples that separately varied each critical aspect and then simultaneously varied all critical aspects developed better conceptual knowledge about the "altitude of a triangle" than students who compared multiple examples that did not separately vary each critical aspect but simultaneously varied all critical aspects. In experiment 2, this pattern was the same for fourth-grade students (N = 90) but not for sixth-grade students (N = 94) who had greater prior knowledge about the concept. Aspects that are critical for learning should be varied first separately and then simultaneously, and students with different levels of prior knowledge may perceive different aspects as critical for their learning and thus benefit differently from the identical instruction.

This paper reports on a study that employed a theory-based approach in the form of a learning study to enhance a domain-specific generic capability, financial literacy, of Grade 12 students to empower them to make informed and independent financial decisions. Financial literacy is seen in this study as a function of student understanding of a limited set of interrelated economic concepts that can be used as tools to assess financial situations and make sound financial decisions. Twelve teachers participated in the study. Six worked together in a learning study group and drew on a particular theory of learning in planning and carrying out lessons designed to serve the learning aims, whereas the other six worked collaboratively in a lesson study group. To evaluate the effectiveness of the two learning conditions created by the two groups, 193 students answered questions on complex, everyday financial situations in four tests: a pretest, a posttest following the research lessons, and delayed posttests 6 weeks and 6 months after instruction. The results showed that students in the learning study group outperformed their counterparts in the lesson study group in all three post-lesson tests, and that the inter-group performance gap was maintained or widened over time.

The study that we report in this paper, named as learning study, is a hybrid between a design experiment as characterized by Brown and Collins, and a Japanese lesson study as characterized by Yoshida, and Stigler and Hiebert. This paper aims at tracing the development of the learning study and examining its impact on teacher professional learning, through the example of an empirical study conducted in Hong Kong. First, the notion of learning study is explicated, together with the related ideas of the lesson study approach, the teaching research group and design experiments. Second, an empirical study is reported, which documents how a group of economics teachers in Hong Kong worked collaboratively within the learning study model to improve student learning, and in doing so enhanced their own professional learning. Finally, the implication of learning study for teacher professional learning is discussed. (Contains 2 tables and 2 notes.)

The purpose of this article is to identify some necessary conditions of learning. To learn something, the learner must discern what is to be learned (the object of learning). Discerning the object of learning amounts to discerning its critical aspects. To discern an aspect, the learner must experience potential alternatives, that is, variation in a dimension corresponding to that aspect, against the background of invariance in other aspects of the same object of learning. (One could not discern the color of things, for instance, if there was only one color.) The study results illustrate that what students learn in a sequence of lessons is indeed a function of the pattern of variation and invariance constituted in that sequence. All teachers make use of variation and invariance in their teaching, but this study shows that teachers informed by a systematic framework do it more systematically, with striking effects on their students' learning.

This paper shows how the patterns of variation created in the teaching were critical in helping a class of Primary 3 students in Hong Kong to learn about the colour of light, so that the students attained conceptual rather than procedural knowledge. A "Learning Study" approach was adopted, which is a Lesson Study grounded in a particular learning theory to improve teaching and learning. This study, based on the learning theory of Variation advanced by Marton and Booth, was premised on three types of variation: variation in students' ways of experiencing what is to be taught/learnt (V1), variation in teachers' ways of dealing with the "object of learning" (V2), and the use of "pattern of variation" as a guiding principle of pedagogical design to enhance students' learning (V3). In planning the lesson, a conscious effort was made to create relevant patterns of variation, i.e. varying certain critical aspect(s) while keeping other aspects of the object of learning invariant in order to help students to discern those aspects. Comparison between the results of the pre- and post-test shows that there was significant gain in the students' learning outcomes with respect to the intended object of learning. The findings contribute knowledge to how the Theory of Variation can be used in practice. It also illustrates how teachers can make use of this theoretical framework to analyze their own teaching and thereby, develop an analytical awareness of teaching and learning.

A group of experienced secondary school teachers used a novel learning theory as a resource for planning and carrying out their teaching of a difficult economic concept. Their students' mastery of this concept after a series of three lessons was compared with the mastery of the same concept by students who were taught by another group of teachers under the same conditions except for the use of the theory. The difference in learning outcomes was extreme. Observations of what was happening in the classrooms showed subtle but decisive differences correlated with the differences in outcome. These differences were interpreted in terms of the theory used by the first group, and the results seem to give support to the theoretical claim that for any specific object of learning there is a necessary pattern of variation and invariance that the learners must experience in order to appropriate the object of learning in question and thus by bringing out that pattern in the learning situation, the likelihood of that object of learning being appropriated is enhanced. Furthermore, this study shows how the understanding of the simultaneous change in the supply of and the demand for a certain good affects its market price can be brought about in a powerful way.

During three discussion sessions, two groups of five teachers each developed a shared lesson plan, one for each group, for the teaching of a difficult economic concept. Differences in learning outcomes are interpreted in light of observed differences in how the concept was dealt with in the different classrooms. (Author/AEF)

Discusses "new" phenomenography and its links with research tradition, which are not immediately obvious. Makes the case that an interest in variation is the thread that runs through the phenomenographic movement as it explores the different ways in which people experience the same henomena. (SLD)

A method called variation approach to improve the process and outcome of learning in interactive teaching at the university physics level is presented. The variation method focuses on noticing new things.

Despite great interest in the transformative mixed methods, an example of using vignettes in a multiphase mixed methods interventional study has been lacking. This study investigates the social justice problem of poverty in the context of financial education with Hong Kong early adolescent ethnic minority students. The discussion contributes to the field of mixed methods research by demonstrating the use of a vignette-based methodology as a tool for integration, representation, and utilization of participant voices in a multiphase design. The use of joint displays in the form of Venn diagrams illustrates how interdisciplinary research findings that may reveal multiple aspects of noncohering phenomena can be interpreted through simultaneous visualization of integration and diffraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]