CONCEPTIONS OF LEARNING

CONCEPTIONS OF LEARNING

The findings of this study make a significant contribution to the empirical research literature, particularly to the field of children’s conceptions of learning. In this section, the current study is discussed in light of three studies conducted by Pramling (1983), Steketee (1997) and Klatter et al. (2001), which involved The findings of this study make a significant contribution to the empirical research literature, particularly to the field of children’s conceptions of learning. In this section, the current study is discussed in light of three studies conducted by Pramling (1983), Steketee (1997) and Klatter et al. (2001), which involved

Studies by Pramling (1983), Steketee (1997) and Klatter et al. (2001) were selected for three main reasons. First, these studies used a phenomenographic research approach to explore children’s conceptions of learning. Although studies conducted by Pramling (1983) and Klatter et al. (2001) used a combination of phenomenography and other methodologies to examine conceptions of learning held by children, both studies along with Steketee’s (1997) are the only studies to use phenomenography to explore children’s experiences of learning. Second, these studies share the aim of the current study, that is, to describe the qualitatively different ways in which learning is experienced by children. Third, all of these studies involved children between the ages of 3 and 11 years old.

A summary of similarities and differences between the three studies and the current study is presented in Table 15.

Table

15: Comparison of Pramling (1983), Steketee (1997) and Klatter et al. (2001) with the current study

Pramling (1983)

Steketee (1997)

Klatter et al. (2001)

Current study

Context: Sweden

Context: Brunei Setting: Preschool

Context: Australia

Context: The Netherlands

Setting: Government primary school Research approach:

Setting: Primary school

Setting: Primary school

Research approach: Phenomenography Phenomenography

Research approach: Phenomenography

Research approach: Phenomenography

Results: 3 conceptions of learning

Results: 6 conceptions of learning

Results: Children have clear‐cut beliefs

Results: 3 categories of description

about the following 5 aspects of

1. Learning as doing

learning: 1. Learning as acquiring information 2. Learning as knowing

1. Generic learning

2. Learning as physically doing

1. Purpose of schools

2. Learning as remembering information

3. Learning as understanding

3. Learning as knowing more things

2. Learning orientation

3. Learning as doing hands‐on

4. Learning as knowing harder things

3. Regulation

activities

5. Learning as searching for meaning

4. Learning demands

6. Learning as constructing new

5. Mental activities

understandings

In the sections that follow, similarities and differences between each study are discussed under the following headings:

Variation in conceptions across studies

Variation in interpretation of the term conception across studies

Variation in conception across studies

This section presents a comparative discussion on children’s experiences of learning. These learning experiences include: acquiring information and knowing; remembering and understanding; and, doing hands‐on activities and physically doing.

The category, learning as acquiring information, described in this study, is similar to Swedish preschool children’s conception of learning as knowing (Pramling, 1983) and Australian children’s conception of learning as knowing more things (Steketee, 1997). In Pramling’s (1983) study, the conception of learning as knowing refers to the children’s ideas about learning as adding to one’s knowledge about the world that surrounds them. Similarly, Australian children conceive of learning as knowing more things, which according to Steketee (1997), refers to the accumulation of information such that they increase their stores of knowledge. Learning is perceived by the children as a process in which they gain more information. The distinguishing feature of this learning experience is the focus on quantity rather

In contrast to Pramling’s (1983) and Steketee’s (1997) studies, the conception of learning as understanding was not discerned in the current study. In Pramling’s (1983) study, learning as understanding was the highest level conception of learning. Swedish children in Pramling’s (1983) study were able to describe learning as a process in which they have come to understand the meaning inherent in an activity. A similar experience was evident in Australian (Steketee, 1997) children’s conception of learning. Primary school children in Steketee’s (1997) study described learning as an experience in which they were able to understand the overall meaning of information.

Some children in the current Brunei study, however, used the term understanding to describe their ability to remember what they have learnt in class. Learning as remembering was not evident in Australian (Steketee, 1997) and Swedish (Pramling, 1983) children’s conceptions of learning. Primary school children in the current study were concerned with gaining good marks in examinations and there was no indication that the children in this study searched for an overall meaning of the information that was transmitted to them in class. While there were instances of learning as a sense‐making experience, more data was needed in this study to support the sense‐making experience as a category. The absence of learning as remembering in Australian (Steketee, 1997) and Swedish (Pramling, 1983) children’s

Likewise, context may account for the difference between conceptions of learning held by older groups of students and those held by children. Learning as doing was absent in university and secondary school students’ conceptions of learning (Säljö, 1979; Marton et al., 1993; Purdie, 1994). Pramling (1983) explained that the absence of learning as doing in university students’ conceptions of learning is context ‐related. For example, a young child needs to master basic skills such as writing as a learning task, but for a university student, writing is merely a physical ability that does not contribute to his or her knowledge. This category of description, therefore, confirms previous findings that argue the influence of educational context on students’ conceptions of learning. It can be argued that, educational context, therefore, may be influential in the ways in which children conceive of learning.

Learning as doing hands‐on activities is a conception which is similar to the Swedish (Pramling, 1983) children’s conception of learning as doing and, Australian (Steketee, 1997) children’s conception of learning as physically doing. Pramling (1983) and Steketee (1997) noted that children in their studies did not perceive learning as separate from doing. Learning as doing, according to preschool children

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in Sweden (Pramling, 1983), refers to physically participating in an activity or merely doing something. Such a description is similar to what the children in Brunei were referring to when they described learning as doing hands‐on activities. In Steketee’s (1997) study, Australian children described learning as physically doing to signify their ability to do something (Steketee, 1997). According to Steketee (1997), the conception of learning as physically doing has an action orientation, with learning as physical participation in an activity. Physical participation can vary from carrying out a manual skill to the manipulation of materials in problem‐solving activities. The latter, however, does not necessarily reflect a constructivist perspective. The children’s descriptions of learning as doing hands‐on activities in this study, for example, indicated that there was no meaning‐making experience as

a result of doing experiments and projects. These hands‐on activities were carried out as part of their workbook exercise, in which, step‐by‐step instructions had been outlined. As such, the experience was limited to carrying out instructions rather than exploring concepts.

Variation in interpretation of the term conception across studies

The interpretation of the term conception varies across studies. Klatter et al. (2001) defined conception as ‘a multi‐dimensional construct, consisting of several beliefs …’ (p. 489). The term belief reflects a social psychology tradition (Sinatra & Dole, 1998) rather than a phenomenographical perspective. As mentioned previously, the term conception is commonly used to describe ways of experiencing a phenomenon in phenomenographic research. Therefore, Klatter et al.’s (2001)

Pramling’s (1983) and Steketee’s (1997) interpretations of the term conception reflect the psychological orientation that influenced early phenomenographic studies. In Pramling’s (1983) Swedish study, the term learning conceptions is used to describe the children’s ‘thoughts of’ and ‘ideas about’ learning (Pramling, 1983, pp. 83‐88). In contrast, the current study focuses on the children’s experiences of learning. Pramling (1983) focused on metacognitive processes and consciousness wherein the children’s ability to think about, and reflect on learning was stressed. Like Pramling (1983), Steketee (1997) focused on children’s thoughts of learning rather than the ways in which they experienced learning. The difference of focus and interpretation of the term conception distinguishes the current study from Pramling’s (1983) Swedish study and Steketee’s (1997) Australian study.

This section has discussed the contribution that this study makes to current understandings of children’s conceptions of learning in relation to three significant studies in the field, namely, those carried out by Pramling (1983), Steketee (1997) and Klatter et al. (2001). The study has also made a methodological contribution to the literature through the use of scenario‐based interviews.