Threshold Concepts: A discipline-based approach to learning and design Photo: Andrei Ceru. CC 3.0

Introduction Aims Background/context to threshold concepts research Characteristics of threshold concepts Threshold concepts in the field What concepts arise in different disciplines? Threshold concepts and learning activities Curriculum design Photo: Andrei Ceru. CC 3.0

Session aims Overall aim: The aim of this workshop is to help participants … learn about ‘threshold concepts’ and ‘troublesome knowledge’ consider what threshold concepts might exist in their disciplines design a learning activity around a threshold concept in their field Redesign an undergraduate curriculum with threshold concepts in mind Photo: Steve Berardi. CC BY-SA

Background to threshold concept research Strongly discipline-focused: Initially engineering, history, biology, economics Arose from ETL (Enhancing Teaching-Learning Environments in Undergraduate Courses) project ESRC-funded ‘threshold concepts’ emerged in all the subjects being studied Initial research involved academics and students from a number of UK universities Threshold concepts have been the topic of a number of international conferences

Activity 1: recalling a difficult learning experience Photo: Don Nelson Think back to your time as a learner in your subject. Try to remember a key concept or theory that you struggled with. Please make some notes about the concept/theory and the experience of learning it.

Threshold knowledge as a portal ‘A threshold concept can be considered as akin to a portal, opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something. It represents a transformed way of understanding, or interpreting, or viewing something without which the learner cannot progress. As a consequence of comprehending a threshold concept, there may thus be a transformed internal view of subject matter, subject landscape, or even worldview.’ (Meyer and Land, 2003) Photo: Andrei Ceru. CC 3.0

Some characteristics of threshold concepts Transformative – once understood, they should shift one’s perception of the subject Irreversible – cannot be ‘unlearned’ Integrative – has the capacity to ‘expose a hidden interrelatedness’ Troublesome - potentially counter- intuitive. 'In grasping a threshold concept a student moves from a common sense understanding to an understanding which may conflict with perceptions that have previously seemed self-evidently true.’ (Davies, 2003) Photo: Steve Berardi. CC BY-SA

Troublesome knowledge Knowledge that is difficult to teach and difficult to learn but which offers the learner a new perspective on the topic and, potentially, the discipline. Troublesome knowledge might also require new use of language and shifts in understanding. It may also take a learner deeper into the subject. Aim is not to elide or avoid, but rather to acknowledge troublesome knowledge. Land, 2008 and Perkins, 1999 Photo: Andrei Ceru. CC 3.0

Liminal spaces Suspended and transformative space that a learner occupies by moving from one state or position to another Can be a space in which someone engages with previously held beliefs/certainties and renders them problematic Often unsettling - Land and Meyer 2008; Land 2010 Photo: Andrei Ceru CC 3.0

Activity 2: initial responses Please watch the interview with Glynis Cousin. Glynis Cousin Interview What is your initial response to Glynis’ account of threshold concepts? Does anything in your background as a learner or a teacher resonate with her account of threshold concepts? Photo: Andrei Ceru. CC 3.0

Threshold concepts in the disciplines SubjectThreshold Concept English literatureDeconstruction; hegemony; signification EconomicsOpportunity cost, the margin MathsLimit, complex number Electrical engineeringFrequency response Computer scienceObject-oriented programming (OOP); memory/pointers, state Academic literaciesWriting as a social practice Cultural studies; sociologyOtherness AccountingDepreciation EngineeringSpin Politics‘the state’ Land 2010; Land et al. 2008; Meyer and Land, 2003

Activity 3: identifying threshold concepts in your discipline Consider the threshold concepts on the handout from your discipline (or cognate discipline) Do you agree with the categorisation? Please identify up to 3 additional threshold concepts in your field. Please discuss your findings with colleagues from similar disciplines. Photo: Andrei Ceru. CC 3.0

Learning and threshold concepts How can we use threshold concepts to design learning activities? Please see one or both of the following resources for examples to prepare for Activity 4 (slide 14): Stamboulis, et al. (2012) ‘Uncovering threshold values in first year engineering courses and implications for curriculum design’ OER. Land, R. and Meyer, J. (2003) Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to Ways of Thinking and Practising within the Disciplines (Section 4 contains a number of examples from different disciplines).

Activity 4: designing a learning activity around a threshold concept Please take a threshold concept from your discipline (from the handout or one that you have identified) Spend some time drafting a learning activity (or a series of activities) around the concept Share the idea with up to four other people.

Threshold concepts and curriculum design ‘The role of the teacher is to arrange victories for the students.’ Quintilian AD Cited in Land Photo: Steve Berardi. CC BY-SA

Using threshold concepts to guide curriculum design ‘Jewels in the curriculum’ – see the threshold concepts as points of transformation; build the curriculum around them Allow space for confusion ‘Recursiveness and excursiveness’ Learners might have to revisit and doubleback while engaging with a threshold concept (Cousin, 2006 drawing on Land et al. 2006) Photo: Andrei Ceru. CC 3.0

Activity 5: Curriculum design task How could you use an awareness of threshold concepts for curriculum design? Please take a curriculum (either from a single module, a year or an entire degree). Consider where the core threshold concepts appear in the curriculum/curricula. Are there ways in which you could reorganise the curriculum having identified threshold concepts? Photo: Steve Berardi. CC BY-SA

References Cousin, G. (2006) ‘An Introduction to threshold concepts’ Davies, P. (2003) ‘Threshold Concepts: how can we recognise them? Embedding Threshold Concepts project: Working Paper 1’. Embedding Threshold Concepts Project Land, R. (2010) ‘Threshold Concepts and Issues of Interdisciplinarity’. Third Biennial Threshold Concepts Symposium: Exploring transformative dimensions of threshold concepts: The University of New South Wales Australia, Land, R., Meyer, J. and Smith, J. (2008) Threshold Concepts within the Disciplines. Rotterdam: Sense. Meyer, J. and Land, R. (2003) ’Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to Ways of Thinking and Practising within the Disciplines’. ETL Project Report No Perkins, D. (2006) ‘Constructivism and troublesome knowledge. In JHF Meyer and R Land (Eds) Overcoming barriers to student understanding: Threshold Concepts and troublesome knowledge. London: Routledge. Perkins, D. (1999). ‘The many faces of constructivism’, Educational Leadership, 57 (3).

Learning Resource Metadata Field/ElementValue: TitleDisciplinary Thinking – Threshold concepts: Workshop slides DescriptionPresentation slides for a workshop on threshold concepts. ThemeThreshold Concepts SubjectHE - Education AuthorColleen McKenna & Jane Hughes: HEDERA, 2012 OwnerThe University of Bath AudienceEducational developers in accredited programmes & courses in higher education. Issue Date24/05/2012 Last updated Date01/08/2012 Versionfinal PSF MappingA1, A2, K1, K2, K3 LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License. Keywords ukoer, education, discthink, disciplinary thinking, hedera, university of bath, threshold concepts, curriculum design, academic practice DRAFT 19