10 Variation Techniques Every Educator Should Know

Phenomenography teaches us that learning occurs when a person becomes aware of new aspects of a phenomenon, thereby transforming their understanding of it. Changes in details are important because they expand our awareness, enabling us to notice relationships and nuances that were previously invisible. These changes often arise when we encounter contradictions, new perspectives, or unfamiliar elements that challenge our earlier assumptions. With time, as we attend to new details, our conceptions evolve, and our understanding becomes richer and more flexible.

Variation Theory (which originates from phenomenographic research) suggests that our experience and understanding of a concept depend heavily on the features we attend to at a given moment. We can’t focus on everything, so our minds only pick up a limited subset of features.

That’s why two students sitting side by side, with the same textbooks and teacher, can come away with completely different understandings of the same concept. What students can deduce is less of the information they are being presented with and more of which parts change (variation) and which stay the same (invariance). So then how do we deliver lessons to students that make critical points they need to understand more evident(to every student) and easy to grasp? The theory and subsequent studies outline several patterns or ways of organising examples and tasks that help learners notice what is essential about a concept.

1. Contrast

Contrast is the most intuitive starting point. A learner sees what something is by seeing what it is not. If a student is learning what counts as a triangle, showing the student only triangles is not enough. They also need to know shapes that are not triangles and those that are close but not quite right. Learners comparing the examples side by side helps make the defining features stand out more clearly.

2. Separation

Some features of a concept are easily overlooked unless they are isolated.
Separation means varying one feature at a time while keeping the others constant. For instance, in mathematics, if students are learning slope, you might vary steepness but hold the intercept constant. This helps them notice which geometric change actually represents slope.

3. Generalisation

Once learners can recognise a feature, they need to see how it appears across different contexts. Generalisation involves presenting a wide range of examples that share the same underlying critical feature, even if everything else looks different. This prevents students from forming overly narrow or rigid interpretations.

4. Fusion

Fusion is the most advanced pattern. It occurs when learners can hold multiple varying aspects in mind at the same time and understand how those aspects interact.
In English literature, understanding a character’s motivation often requires integrating several cues (actions, dialogue, and context) at once. Fusion helps learners see how all these parts connect to influence the character's motivation.

Extended Patterns

5. Gradation (or Progressive Variation): A Gentle Increase in Complexity

Some researchers describe gradation as a purposeful sequence where examples become gradually more complex, abstract, or demanding. Instead of jumping from a simple example to a very difficult one, the teacher introduces a smooth progression. This helps learners stabilise the basic critical features before handling more complex ones. Many practitioners use it in combination with other patterns because it supports cognitive pacing.

6. Repetition With Controlled Variation

In this pattern, an activity or example is repeated several times, but each repetition includes one small, intentional change. The small tweaks give them just enough new information to refine what they've noticed so far without losing confidence. Think of it as a combination of the contrast and separation patterns, but in very small steps. It helps prevent students from forming misconceptions that arise when examples vary too much, too quickly.

7. Contrast–Generalisation Cycles

In some situations, it helps to move back and forth between narrowing a concept and expanding it. This technique is more of a cycle rather than a single progression:

• First, learners use contrast to identify what matters.
• Then, they use generalisation to see the same idea appears across different contexts.

Cycling between these two stages reinforces clarity while broadening understanding.

8. Sequential Fusion: Building Complexity Step by Step

Fusion asks learners to consider several varying features at once, but in certain cases, this can be too demanding if done all at once. With sequential fusion, you break the process into stages: start by combining two features, then add a third, and continue building from there. This gradual layering helps students handle complex ideas without overloading them on the critical features they are paying attention to.

9. Contrast Within Fusion: Comparing Complex Cases

Another extension appears in subjects like physics or language learning.
Teachers sometimes introduce contrast inside a fusion setup, helping students see how interactions among features differ across cases.
For example, in an English language class, the teacher presents two cases using the same sentence. In Case A, the sentence reads “You finished early.”, spoken with a neutral tone. In Case B, the same words are spoken with a rising, surprised tone; the sentence reads “You finished EARLY?”. The teacher then asks students to compare the two cases, helping them notice how identical wording can produce different interpretations when tone and context change, and how these features (words, intonation and context) combine to create social meaning.

10. Variation Through Representation: Changing the Format

The same topic is taught or presented in different forms like diagrams, written descriptions, numbers, physical models, or graphs. Each representation highlights different aspects of the topic, giving learners multiple ways to grasp its meaning. This is especially useful when a learner struggles with one format but thrives in another.

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References

Marton, F. (2015). Necessary conditions of learning. Routledge.

Pang, M. F., & Marton, F. (2005). Learning theory and lesson design in mathematics: Lessons from the field. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 17(1), 1–20.

Runesson, U. (2005). Beyond discourse and interaction: Variation—A critical aspect for teaching and learning mathematics. Cambridge Journal of Education, 35(1), 69–87.

Lo, M. L. (2012). Variation theory and the improvement of teaching and learning. Gothenburg Studies in Educational Sciences, 323.

Fraser, D. M., & Pillay, H. (2015). Reimagining learning: Variation theory as a pedagogical tool. In Proceedings of the HERDSA Annual Conference (pp. 1–12). HERDSA.

Tsui, A. B. M., & Nicholls, J. G. (2013). Synthesizing instructional design principles guided by Variation Theory: A case study in chemistry education. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 14(2), 156–168.