Variation theory applied to students’ conceptions of computer programming

Engineering students’ conceptions of entrepreneurial learning as part of their education

“…While for some it means applying entrepreneurial ideas to engineering or a source for new perspectives, others see it as an opportunity for personal development or as a way toward self-realisation through collective effort. These different conceptions of entrepreneurial learning are similar to the differences in conceptions of learning identified in many other, earlier studies (e.g., Säljö 1979aSäljö , 1979bSäljö , 1981Marshall et al 1999;Marton and Säljö 1979;van Rossum and Schenk 1984;van Rossum, Deijkers, and Hamer 1985;Marton, Dall'Alba, and Beaty 1993;Marton and Booth 1997;Tynjälä 1997;Boulton-Lewis et al 2001Thuné and Eckerdal 2009;Virtanen and LindblomYlänne 2009;Otting et al 2010;Yang and Tsai 2010;Paakkari et al 2011, etc.). It is important to keep in mind that most of previous studies have investigated students' conceptions of learning per se, whereas the present study focused on conceptions of entrepreneurial learning in the context of engineering education in particular.…”

Insightful learning in the laboratory: Some experiences from 10 years of designing and using conceptual labs

“…In several papers by, for example, Duncan Fraser, Cedric Linder and co-workers , Fraser and Linder 2009 examples are provided from chemical engineering, process dynamics and physics. Thuné and Eckerdal (2009) have used the notion of variation to design learning activities in computer programming. The examples in these papers, together with our results, provide evidence of successful designs in engineering education using variation theory.…”

Analysing the Enacted Object of Learning in Lab Assignments in Programming Education

“…In the case discussed here, our variation theoretical analysis is based on dimensions of variation identified in two previous phenomenographic studies, one concerning students' conceptions of "computer programming" [8], the other about students' conceptions of "object" and "class" in objectoriented programming [9]. In relation to "computer programming" five dimensions of variation emerged from the empirical data (interviews with students who had recently taken a novice programming course).…”