ABSTRACT
In the past few decades, the Chinese learner’s phenomenon has become one of the most productive fields in educational research (Watkins & Biggs, 1996, 2001; Wong, 2004). Despite the impression that Chinese learners are brought up in an environment not conducive to deep learning, they outperformed many of their Western counterparts. They have scored high in international comparative studies and competitions such as the International Mathematics Olympiads (IMO), International Assessment of Education Progress (IAEP), the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The same phenomenon was also observed in the most recent PISA results (Ho et al., 2011). There is a general impression that learning in Chinese emphasizes basic skills, which attributes to these high scores. Along this line, suggestions have been made to look for a bridge that link basic skills to higher-order thinking abilities (Wong, 2006, 2008; Wong, Han, & Lee, 2004). “Teaching with variation” was proposed as one such means (Zhang & Dai, 2004).
