Learning through the variation theory: A case study

The variation theory stems from the concept of phenomenography. Although some applications of the theory can be found, the theory is not well known in the field of education, especially with respect to the teaching of business and management subjects. The aim of this paper is to explore the use of the variation theory for teaching management concepts. A case of designing an educational setting for learning two easily confused theories of knowledge management was presented. With the intended object of learning, the educational setting was divided into three parts, based on which students experienced the four patterns of variation (i.e., contrast, separation, generalization, and fusion) by using their own generated examples. The theory helps students draw upon their personal experiences and discern learning from different perspectives. Copyright © 2016 International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.