In this study I explore the construction of algebraic structure sense through engaging students in task sequences designed to elicit the development of competencies related to this understanding. The primary task-design principle employed in this study is strategic variation, in which certain components of items within task sequences vary while others remain invariant. The goal of this design is to focus students' attention and encourage noticing of components of algebraic expressions that may subsequently lead them to make conceptual advances. In this study I use data from 24 teaching experiments that I conducted with 10th grade New York City public school students to answer the following two research questions: RQ1. How does students' engagement in sequences of tasks designed based on strategic variation contribute to their development of algebraic structure sense? RQ2. What might be some inhibiting factors that are revealed through this engagement? To answer RQ1, I present three cases studies exemplifying correct and partially correct constructions using the Recognizing, Building-with, and Constructing (RBC) nested model of epistemic actions, and introduce transcript data from other interviews to support the claim that the act of attempting to give a compound term a name plays an important role in helping student encapsulate a process as an object. To answer RQ2, I identify four factors that appear to inhibit students' conceptual advance: a strong "desire to operate" and perform the indicated operations whenever possible; students differential treatment of different algebraic forms resulting from their adherence to linearity; a tendency to overgeneralize solutions and solution strategies; and a tendency to focus on superficial, rather than structural, features. I conclude by reflecting on the role that automaticity plays in inhibiting student learning, discuss the mutually constitutive nature of perturbation and anticipation that appeared to play a role in students' conceptual advances, and frame this study more broadly within the epistemological domain of student learning from examples. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]