Troublesome knowledge, thresholds and climate change Brendan Hall CeAL, University of Gloucestershire Royal Geographical Society, London. 29/8/08

The research PhD research – Key concepts in teaching and learning climate change Theoretical frameworks – Troublesome Knowledge and Threshold Concepts Interviews with academics involved in teaching and researching climate change in Geography departments in England and Wales

Troublesome Knowledge Perkins (1999) identifies several forms of knowledge, all of which may be potentially ‘troublesome’ in some way for a learner Ritual Knowledge – routine/ritual response Inert Knowledge – “the mind’s attic” Conceptually Difficult & Alien Knowledge – difficult/complex/counter-intuitive Tacit Knowledge – implicit within discipline

Threshold Concepts “Within certain disciplines there are certain ‘conceptual gateways’ or ‘portals’ that lead to a previously inaccessible, and initially perhaps ‘troublesome’, way of thinking about something” (Meyer and Land 2005) Students must cross these thresholds in order to progress within the discipline

Threshold Concepts - Characteristics Troublesome – conceptually difficult, alien etc. Transformative – brings about a significant shift in the learner’s perception of a subject Integrative – reveals the previously hidden interrelatedness of different concepts (Carmichael et al. 2007) Irreversible – unlikely to be unlearned Liminality – a space that must be ‘crossed’ to occasion shift in identity, likely to be uncomfortable (Meyer and Land 2005)

The Interviews Troublesome knowledge and threshold concepts have informed research design Key questions in this instance: When teaching climate change, what do you think are the key concepts that students should have an understanding of? When teaching climate change, what are the concepts/ideas that you feel students find troublesome (struggle with?)

Key Concepts? “They should be aware of a range of environmental proxies....and geochronological techniques. Essentially the what and when of the science” “The history of the discipline” “...being highly critical and looking at the balance of evidence” “I would be more concerned with climate...the basics of how climate works” “Natural climate variability...the climate is not stable” “I try to reinforce the Earth system approach....terrestrial, ocean, atmosphere are all involved” “I’m a pretty big fan of getting the chronology right...that’s probably because that’s where my expertise is” “The palaeoclimate toolbox” “I think the very top one for me is certainty, certainty and uncertainty”

Troublesome Knowledge? “They [students] have an aversion to anything....that they perceive to be deeply scientific” (dating techniques, geochronology) “Trying to introduce any mathematics generally doesn’t go down too well” “I don’t think many of them grasp that [uncertainty, criticality/evidence]” “The variability of climate, the fact that it was changing without any anthropogenic influence” “To realise that science and what we find in science is changing all the time” “The sheer volume of the material” (literature, debate – size of the discipline) “Some of the geophysical stuff...for example radiocarbon calibration, you have to know something about geomagnetic fields...it’s not the sort of stuff they’re expecting as part of a Geography degree”

Towards threshold concepts in climate change? Some concepts are identified as being both ‘key’ and ‘troublesome’ Geochronology (the ‘what and when’) Uncertainty Variability Evidence Other potential candidates Disciplinary history Climate Earth Systems Palaeoclimate

Where to from here? Context is important Threshold concepts emerge from discussions amongst peers within the discipline Your views? Any questions?