Avhandlingens - Umeå universitet

Summary
Introduction
The gap between theory and practice is in literature described as a common
problem when the relation between teachers and research results is discussed.
Sometimes teachers are blamed for being unwilling to pay attention to results.
Research carried out during the last 50 years has often seen teachers as an object
of the research and this may have contributed to widening the gap. In this thesis
a praxis-oriented research project is described, where teachers together with
researchers were involved in carrying out the research.
Purpose
The purpose of this thesis is to analyse and describe how teachers during an
in-service training period develop theoretical knowledge about focusing on
the content when planning instruction, and in what way this has an impact
on the students’ learning. The research questions are as follows: (1) What
eventual differences concerning questions about method and content can be
observed in teachers’ discussions about teaching of a specific object of learning
and in their handling of this object of learning in an in-service training period?
(2) Can these eventual differences be related to the teachers’ insights in the
theoretical framework, i.e. the variation theory? (3) Can eventual differences in
the students’ learning be related to differences in the teachers’ handling of the
object of learning?
Theoretical framework
The variation theory is used as a framework for analysis as well as for planning
instruction. It is developed from the phenomenographic approach which is an
approach about different ways of experiencing a phenomenon or a situation,
and like the variation theory it adopts a non-dualistic ontology. It means learning
can neither be connected to the individual nor to the social context, but seen
as a conjunction of the two. The non-dualistic picture brings the learner and
the phenomenon being learned into the same world of experience.
The theoretical assumption is that the ability to learn presupposes an
experience of variation if we view learning as a change in the learner’s capacity
to experience something new in the world. This variation can be described in
terms of discernment, simultaneity and variation, all three very closely connected
to each other. The term experience is defined as the way awareness is structured
and organized in a specific moment. Experience is also defined as being able
to discern something from a given context and to relate it to this context or
another. In every situation there are many aspects to discern. If every aspect
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