ABSTRACT
In chapter 1, Marton, Runesson, and Tsui proposed that learning is the process of developing a certain way of seeing, and pointed out that different ways of seeing allow for different ways of acting. They also pointed out that in order to help learners to develop a capability for seeing things in a powerful way, we need to focus on what is being learned and help learners discern critical features of the object of learning. In other words, investigations of learning involve studying how learners experience the object of learning, and investigations of classroom learning involve analyses of the opportunities to experience the object of learning that are afforded to learners. In this sense, the space of learning is an experiential space. An experiential space is not an instantiation, but rather a potential for understanding, seeing, and acting in the world (see Halliday & Matthiessen, 1999). It is in relation to this potential that learners can make sense of a particular object of learning. As such, the experiential space is elastic. The teacher can either widen this space by affording learners opportunities to explore the object of learning in a variety of ways, or narrow this space by depriving them of such opportunities.
