Threshold Concepts may be considered to be

“akin to passing through a portal”

(Meyer and Land, 2004)

Peter Hadfield, Peter Wolstencroft and James Atherton

"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."

(Meyer and Land, 2003:412)

Why Threshold concepts?• Generic application for all subjects/disciplines, but

discipline specific for Interest groups to ‘uncover’

• A new way of looking at content Must know Should know Could know

• About more than teaching & learning a subject

Political

Background

Legal

AspectsResearchmethods

EthicsPhilosophies / models ofPractice

Discipline-SpecificTheory

ProfessionalStudies

Practiceskills

Technology

Values

In vocational or professional education, the amorphous green background represents what the student needs to learn, but it is never fully covered by the formal curriculum represented by the geometrical shapes

Threshold concepts open up the opportunity to address this other material

The following material is from “Simple Minds” (written and produced by Philip Sadler) shown on BBC2 on 19 September 1994

This video material is not incorporated directly in the on-line slide show, but may be found with commentary at; http://www.doceo.co.uk/tools/thresholds_7.htm

Prelim1

Exercise in break

Plenary discussion

Prelim2

Mainargument

Introduction

This is the structure of the presentation

Preliminary point 1; A little of what we teach is just the accumulation of discrete and isolated facts

Remembering

Understanding

Applying

Analysing

Evaluating

Creating

Krathwohl and Anderson 2001, after Bloom, 1956

That applies only to the bottom level of the revised taxonomy in the cognitive domain

Systems andArguments

All the other stuff emphasises the connectedness and context of ideas and concepts. Threshold concepts are about open up connected areas of knowledge

Prelim1

Exercise in break

Plenary discussion

Prelim2

Mainargument

Introduction

Hattie (2009) is an important contribution to knowledge about teaching. He has always emphasised the importance of feedback...

Learner Teacher

From T to L on howshe is doing and howto get better

From L to T on errorsand what T needs toconcentrate on

...to the learner. Now he stresses the importance of feedback from the learner to the teacher, about the extent and limitations of the learner’s understanding. This is particularly critical concerning the acquisition of threshold concepts.

Time

Kno

wle

dge/

ski

ll et

c.

This naive diagram represents the view of learning shared by most policy-makers and managers (even those who used to be teachers...)

Time

Kno

wle

dge/

ski

ll et

c.

Once we engage with threshold concepts, however, we have to recognise that the graph is not a straight line, and that uncertainty, confusion and regression is a likely part of the process

Time

Kno

wle

dge/

ski

ll et

c.Liminal trough

This is the “liminal” experience (meaning “on the edge”) of crossing a threshold of understanding.

Prelim1

Exercise in break

Plenary discussion

Prelim2TCs

Introduction

And so to the characteristics of Threshold Concepts

Transformative

Prelim1

Exercise in break

Plenary discussion

Prelim2TCs

Introduction

Why the T.A.R.D.I.S.? Entering it is crossing a transformative threshold; it’s bigger on the inside that the outside

Subject

Transformative

Prelim1

Exercise in break

Plenary discussion

Prelim2TCs

IntroductionThe transformation will apply to your understanding of a subject (the epistemological element), but...

Learner

Subject

Transformative

Prelim1

Exercise in break

Plenary discussion

Prelim2TCs

Introduction

It may also, disconcertingly, apply to your understanding of yourself (the ontological element)

Always use a hand basin provided exclusively for washing hands

Use comfortably hot water. Rub your hands vigorously to work in the soap

Don’t forget the areas in between your fingers and around your wrists

Rinse your handsbefore drying them

Now wash your hands!

(Issue suggested by Catering Interest Group at a previous Study Day)

It’s not only that there is more to washing your hands than you thought, but the fact that you learn to pay so much attention to it also says something about you. You are becoming someone who is professionally concerned about cleanliness

Troublesome

Transformative

Prelim1

Exercise in break

Plenary discussion

Prelim2TCs

Introduction

Because often counter-intuitive

The sharpest tool is the safest tool

• “Wood is made out of thin air and sunlight? Get real!”

• “The cost of production has nothing to do with price? Rubbish!”

• “So you are saying that the fact that someone’s legs don’t work is not a disability? Come on!”

• “In a vacuum, a feather falls at the same speed as a lead shot? No way!”

“Well, that was a waste of time. I could have been doing something or anything else more productively”

(One response to a previous Study Day)Although sometimes we actually know a threshold concept already, without recognising its significance. This is a common-sense statement of “opportunity cost”, a critical TC in economics!

Irreversible

Troublesome

Transformative

Prelim1

Exercise in break

Plenary discussion

Prelim2TCs

IntroductionYou may change your understanding of a TC, but you can’t go back to where you were before you got it.

Once I can read—

I can’t not read

Once I can read—

I can’t not read

Once I can read—

I can’t not read

Once I can read—

I can’t not read

Once I can read—

I can’t not read

Once

I c

an

read

—I ca

n’t

not

read

Once I can read—I can’t not read

Once I can read

—

I can’t not read

Integrative

Irreversible

Troublesome

Transformative

Prelim1

Exercise in break

Plenary discussion

Prelim2TCs

Introduction

TCs create and open up connections between areas of a subject

A gateway is opened between previously isolated parts of the subject

And again! By the way, when you look back on the first one, you may not recognise it from the other side...

Integrative

Bounded

Irreversible

Troublesome

Transformative

Prelim1

Exercise in break

Plenary discussion

Prelim2TCs

Introduction

Much about the boundaries of subject and disciplines; indeed, its TCs may define a subject.

Integrative

Bounded

Irreversible

Troublesome

Transformative

Prelim1

Exercise in break

Plenary discussion

Prelim2TCs

Introduction

• ...think back to when you were learning the subject or skill set which you now teach, and identify a Threshold Concept you learned, and how it changed your understanding and/or practice.

• Meet with one or two others from the same area...

• Swap ideas, and use the check-list to test whether a threshold concept is the genuine article.

• In the plenary, we shall ask some of you to share your ideas, and we’ll discuss them with you.

Briefing for the exercise in the refreshment break

Check-list items are the features identified earlier