EXPLORING LEARNER UNDERSTANDING OF ECONOMIC AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES’ (EMS) CONCEPTS THROUGH VARIATION OF LEARNING THEORY: CLASSROOM EXPERIENCES

This paper addresses one of the fundamental issues in learning and the strategy for enhancing learning within the context of outcomes-based education. The paper argues that the Theory of Variation (ToV), within the phenomenographic paradigm, could be used as a classroom resource to enhance learning particularly in Economic and Management Sciences’ (EMS) education. The article discusses the results of how the understanding of value/price determination of the South African currency (the Rand) among grade 9 (15-16 year olds) was enhanced using the variation theory of learning approach within the phenomenographic studies as a classroom resource. The notions of conceptions, outcome space and object of learning, are found to be key aspects in ToV as a classroom resource. Using these notions, the article analyses the effect of ToV integration into EMS classroom learning activities. It also argues that the use of ToV as learning support strategy significantly enhanced the quality of learning. ToV approach could, therefore, supplement the simplistic outcomes-based learning schemes that overly simplify the outcomes and products of learning and which have received much criticism of late in South Africa.