ABSTRACT
This chapter reports another learning study on the topic of ‘equality in Islam’, further investigating the research question “What kind of variation in understanding the object of learning did Muslim students have prior to the introduction of the framework of Critical Religious Education and Variation Theory in religious education classes? How did their understanding of the object of learning change/evolve during the learning study?” The study was undertaken in a non-faith secondary girls’ school in order to provide variation owing to the application of the proposed framework to a non-Muslim school environment. The first part of the study presents the students’ pre-understanding of ‘equality in Islam’. Next, the lesson plans designed according to the Critical Religious Education and Variation Theory are introduced. The section following that discusses how the research lessons were enacted in the classroom. The last section explores whether, and if so how, the students’ understanding of ‘equality in Islam’ developed during the research lessons. Similar to the first learning study, it was found that the use of the Critical Religious Education and Variation Theory framework fostered student learning. There was a significant increase in the students’ learning outcomes as half of the students reached a higher understanding of the object of learning ‘equality in Islam’.
