Threshold concept approach to curriculum design

stuffing curriculum with content vs focusing on what is fundamental Contrast

‘less is more’ approach to curriculum design

concepts that are central to the mastery of a subject

portals to new ways of thinking

Mathematics: Algebraic notation X 2 = 1 X = 1 or X = -1

Y = X 2

Cookery: Heat transfer + immediately wait a few minutes then +

Sports Science: Aquatic confidence Gaining confidence in the water Appreciation of water as a sporting environment

Characteristics Transformative - shift in perception of the subject Irreversible - unlikely to be forgotten Integrative - exposes previously hidden interrelatedness Bounded - might define frontier into new area Troublesome knowledge - counter-intuitive, alien, incoherent

Oscillation between old and new understandings Occupation of liminal space while mastering threshold concept

E-learning lends itself to required: excursion recursion digression

Meyer, J. and Land, R. (2003) Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to Ways of Thinking and Practising within the Disciplines, Occasional Report 4, Edinburgh: ETL Project Available at: Reference

What (in this subject): As a learner – did you find hard? As a teacher – do some students never seem to learn? As a designer – do students have to grasp to move on to higher levels of understanding?