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Threshold knowledge

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Threshold knowledge is a term in the study of higher education used to describe core concepts—or threshold concepts—which, once understood, transform perception of a given subject, phenomenon, or experience.

The term was Introduced by Jan Meyer and Ray Land, Meyer and Land also discuss the related idea of troublesome knowledge, ideas that appear alien or counter-intuitive. The theory holds that:

... there are certain concepts, or certain learning experiences, which resemble passing through a portal, from which a new perspective opens up, allowing things formerly not perceived to come into view. This permits 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, and results in a reformulation of the learners' frame of meaning. The thresholds approach also emphasises the importance of disciplinary contexts. As a consequence of comprehending a threshold concept there may thus be a transformed internal view of subject matter, subject landscape, or even world view. Typical examples might be 'Personhood' in Philosophy; 'The Testable Hypothesis' in Biology; 'Gravity' in Physics; 'Reactive Power' in Electrical Engineering; 'Depreciation' in Accounting; 'Legal Narrative' in Law; 'Geologic Time' in Geology; 'Uncertainty' in Environmental Science; 'Deconstruction' in Literature; 'Limit' in Mathematics or 'Object-oriented Programming' in Computer Science.

These ideas have been explored by several subsequent researchers in a variety of disciplinary contexts including:

The theory has also been criticised.

The notion of threshold concept is related to the notion of bottleneck in the Decoding the Disciplines framework. It can be considered a special case of the latter.

See also

References

  1. ^ Meyer J H F and Land R 2003 "Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to Ways of Thinking and Practising" in Improving Student Learning: Ten Years On. C. Rust (Ed), OCSLD, Oxford.
  2. ^ Meyer, Jan; Land, Ray; Baillie, Caroline, eds. (2010). Threshold concepts and transformational learning (PDF). Educational futures: rethinking theory and practice. Vol. 42. Rotterdam; Boston: Sense Publishers. p. ix. ISBN 9789460912054. OCLC 649651179. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-02-14. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  3. ^ Meyer JHF, Land R (2005). "Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (2): Epistemological considerations and a conceptual framework for teaching and learning" Higher Education, 49(3), 373-388.
  4. ^ Land, R., Cousin, G., Meyer, J.H.F. and Davies, P. (2005), "Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (3): implications for course design and evaluation", in C. Rust (ed.), Improving Student Learning − equality and diversity, Proceedings of the 12th Improving Student Learning Conference. Oxford: OCLSD.
  5. Korosteleva, E. A. (2010) Threshold Concept Through Enactive Learnings: How Effective Are They in the Study of European Politics?, International Studies Perspectives, 11, 37-50.
  6. Park EJ, Light G (2009). "Identifying Atomic Structure as a Threshold Concept: Student mental models and troublesomeness" International Journal of Science Education, 31(2), 233-258.
  7. Baillie C, Goodhew P, Skryabina E (2006). "Threshold concepts in engineering education-exploring potential blocks in student understanding" International Journal of Engineering Education, 22(5), 955-962.
  8. Davies, Peter; Mangan, Jean (December 2007). "Threshold concepts and the integration of understanding in economics". Studies in Higher Education. 32 (6): 711–726. doi:10.1080/03075070701685148. ISSN 0307-5079. S2CID 143662293.
  9. Davies, Peter (January 2019). "The construction of frameworks in learners' thinking: Conceptual change and threshold concepts in economics". International Review of Economics Education. 30: 100135. doi:10.1016/j.iree.2018.05.002. S2CID 158978997.
  10. Clouder L (2005). "Caring as a 'threshold concept': Transforming students in higher education into health (care) professionals" Teaching in Higher Education, 10(4), 505-517.
  11. Bradbeer J (2006). "Threshold concepts within the disciplines". Planet, no. 17, 16-7.
  12. Lucas, U., Mladenovic, R. (2007), "The potential of threshold concepts: an emerging framework for educational research and practice." London Review of Education, 5(3), 237−248.
  13. Bulmer, M., O'Brien, M., Price, S. (2007) "Troublesome concepts in statistics: a student perspective on what they are and how to learn them", UniServe Science, Proceedings of the Assessment in Science Teaching and Learning Symposium, University of Sydney, September 28−29, 2007, 9–15.
  14. "Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education". Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL). 2015-02-09. Retrieved 2017-10-19.
  15. Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies. University Press of Colorado. 2015. ISBN 978-0-87421-989-0. JSTOR j.ctt15nmjt7.
  16. Rowbottom DP (2007). "Demystifying threshold concepts". Journal of Philosophy of Education, 41(2), 263–270. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9752.2007.00554.x
  17. Shopkow L and Joan Middendorf J (2020). “Caution! Theories at play! Threshold Concepts and Decoding the Disciplines.” Threshold Concepts on the Edge edited by A. Timmermans and R. Land, 37-50. Leiden: Brill/Sense
  18. Shopkow, L (2010). "What decoding the disciplines can offer threshold concepts." Threshold concepts and transformational learning, 317-331. Leiden:Brill.

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