You can only see what you have chosen to see: Overcoming the limitations inherent in our theoretical lenses

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to suggest ways that we can widen our vision since our views are limited by our theoretical lens.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper first draws on articles in the current issue to illustrate how limitations imposed by our theoretical lens can be partly overcome. It then draws on the insights from two recent papers by Svensson (2016) and Lo and Chik (2016) to discuss some ways forward. Svensson’s paper argues for integrating research on teaching and learning using case-based studies and the contextual analysis approach. Lo and Chik’s paper is about how our learning can go beyond the single case through attending to fusion in the external horizon. The conceptual lens from these two papers which are from the phenomenography, variation theory and learning study tradition is applied to look at some of the papers in this issue which are from the lesson study tradition.

Findings

Although there is an inherent limitation to what we can see as a consequence of the theoretical lens that we take, we can widen our vision by learning to see from others’ perspectives and gain insights that would be useful to us.

Originality/value

The conceptual lenses from the phenomenography, variation theory and learning study tradition is applied to look at some of the papers which are from the lesson study tradition to reveal alternative ways of seeing.

Citation

Lo, M.L. (2016), "You can only see what you have chosen to see: Overcoming the limitations inherent in our theoretical lenses", International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 170-179. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLLS-05-2016-0011