Aberg-Bengtsson, L. & Ottosson, T. (1995) Cognitive processes in the developing of understanding of graphically represented quantitative information. Paper presented to the 6th EARLI Conference, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, August 26 - 31.

There is a limited amount of research concerning students' understanding of the information in graphics. Reading off of values or perceiving the most relevant aspects of commonly used graphs and charts does not appear to be a problem for even very young children at early primary levels. A previous project of ours focused on differences in ways of conceiving graphs, charts and cartograms. The present study primarily aims at revealing how students develop a basic understanding of graphs and charts. A second aim is to further investigate students' conceptions of commonly used graphic representations. Data for the main study involve twelve pupils 7-10 years old while they were learning and constructing graphics. The children worked one pair at a time, with the initial 'lessons' being practical ones. The work was divided into three phases and lasted over a period of approximately six weeks for each group. All work sessions, with a few exceptions, were video-taped. The video recordings have been transcribed and the data analysed partly by the method used in phenomenographic research. The preliminary results show that the students express different ways of understanding both initially and after having learnt to construct and read a number of graphs and charts. (Author s abstract).

Alexandersson, C. (1981) Amadeo Giorgi s Empirical Phenomenology. Department of Education, University of Goteborg, 1981:03.

This report represents one particular line of thought within the phenomenological framework that can serve as a theoretical foundation for an empirical method . It outlines major phenomenological concepts such as subject - world relations, description, reduction, intentionality and essences, all of which are also important to phenomenography.

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, U, V, W, Z.