• You’re teaching a second-year module with a first-year prerequisite; but the students don’t understand it. What happened? They all passed the first year module, after all.

• “He’ll pass the assessments and get his degree, but he’ll never think like an engineer.”

• “You can teach some things until you’re blue in the face, but they still

don’t get it.”

Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge

• Reading• Counting… division• Price• Caring• Circuits• Heat transfer• …

Threshold Concepts

and troublesome

knowledge

Threshold concepts

themselves

include

Threshold Concepts

and troublesome

knowledge

Threshold concepts

themselves

Discipline specific

include

which are

Threshold Concepts

and troublesome

knowledge

Threshold concepts

themselves

A portal to new

understanding

include

are like

With acknowledgements to whomever they are due

• “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 world view.”

(Meyer and Land, 2003)

Threshold Concepts

and troublesome

knowledge

Threshold concepts

themselves

A portal to new

understanding

include

are like

Threshold Concepts

and troublesome

knowledge

Threshold concepts

themselves

A portal to new

understanding

transformative

include

are like

they are

likely to be

Threshold Concepts

and troublesome

knowledge

Threshold concepts

themselves

A portal to new

understanding

transformative

irreversible

include

are like

they are likely to be

Threshold Concepts

and troublesome

knowledge

Threshold concepts

themselves

A portal to new

understanding

transformative

irreversible

integrative

include

are like

they are likely to be

Threshold Concepts

and troublesome

knowledge

Threshold concepts

themselves

A portal to new

understanding

transformative

irreversible

integrative

bounded

include

are like

they are likely to be

Threshold Concepts

and troublesome

knowledge

Threshold concepts

themselves

A portal to new

understanding

transformative

irreversible

integrative

bounded

troublesome?

include

are like

they are likely to be

Threshold Concepts

and troublesome

knowledge

Threshold concepts

themselves

A portal to new

understanding

transformative

irreversible

integrative

bounded

troublesome

include

are like

they are likely to be

Threshold Concepts

and troublesome

knowledge

Threshold concepts

themselves

A portal to new

understanding

transformative

irreversible

integrative

bounded

troublesome

knowledge

ritual

inert

conceptuallydifficult

alien

tacit

include

are like

they are likely to be

Risky!

Changes how a topic is understood

Changes how a topic is understood

Misunderstanding often not apparent

until later

Changes how a topic is understood

Misunderstanding often not apparent

until laterHard to assess;

Many proxies

Changes how a topic is understood

Misunderstanding often not apparent

until laterHard to assess;

Many proxies

Misunderstanding disproportionate to technical difficulty

Changes how a topic is understood

Misunderstanding often not apparent

until laterHard to assess;

Many proxies

Misunderstanding disproportionate to technical difficulty

Back-sliding!

Changes how a topic is understood

Misunderstanding often not apparent

until laterHard to assess;

Many proxies

Misunderstanding disproportionate to technical difficulty

Back-sliding!

TC

• Identify a Threshold Concept in your own discipline

• Explore how it might better be taught and assessed