Abstracts - Earli

phenomenography and variation theory since its inception. A number of phenomenographers whocome from different parts of the world and who have joined this research tradition at differentpoints of time are invited to share their understandings of the theme. Contributions to thesymposium include: Ference Marton, Gßteborg University, Sweden & Ming Fai Pang, TheUniversity of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, "Two faces of variation revisited"; Lennart Svensson,Lund University, Sweden, "A contextual understanding of educational phenomena"; UllaRunesson, Gßteborg University, Sweden, "The stepwise unlocking of meanings: Constitution ofmeaning of algebraic expressions seen from the point of view of variation"; and Gerlese Åkerlind,The Australian National University, Australia, "Using phenomenographic research and variationtheory to design a postgraduate award course for university teachers". We have invited YrjßEngestrßm, University of Helsinki, Finland to be the discussant of this symposium to providefeedbacks and comments to the papers presented.Two faces of variation revisitedFerence Marton, Göteborg University, SwedenMing Fai Pang, The University of Hong Kong, Hong KongEight years ago we presented a paper arguing for the continuity between "TraditionalPhenomenography" and what we labelled "The New Phenomenography"(Marton and Pang, 1999).The theme of the paper was further elaborated by Pang (2003). We argued that an interest invariation is the thread that runs through the phenomenographic movement. To understand how the"New Phenomenography" emerged, we must recognize the different senses of variation that havedrawn attention at different times. Phenomenography set out to reveal the different ways in whichpeople experience the same phenomena. This "first face of variation" refers to the variation inways of seeing something, as experienced and described by the researchers. Newphenomenography shifts the primary focus from methodological to theoretical questions, andcharacterizes a way of experiencing something in terms of the critical aspects of the phenomenonas discerned by the learners. However, learners can only discern a particular aspect when theyexperience variation in that aspect. This is the "second face of variation" which is experienced bythe learners but described by the researchers. In our presentation we are going to develop this lineof reasoning further by demonstrating the commensurability of our descriptions of the two kinds ofvariation mentioned.A contextual understanding of educational phenomenaLennart Svensson, Lund University, SwedenIn this paper some general characteristics of a contextual understanding of educational phenomenaare outlined. The outline is suggested against the background of previous phenomenographicresearch and a recent interdisciplinary phenomenographic project on university physics students’use of language in expressing their understanding of cases of physical motion. The theoreticalapproach suggested is presented in contrast to some main characteristics of cognitive and socioculturaltheories often referred to in educational research but found to be limited in their focusmainly on cognitive and socio-cultural phenomena and not on educational phenomena. It issuggested that to understand educational phenomena one has to consider the immediate situationalcontext and broader cognitive and socio-cultural contexts based on seeing the learner as an agentmediating the relation to and significance of the contexts. An agent perspective and an intentionalexpressive view on language use seems to be essential for a contextual understanding in education.– 476 –