Developing First year Undergraduates’
Acquisition of Threshold Concepts
etc
Embedding Threshold Concepts
is a three year FDTL5 project
Staffordshire
University
University of
Durham
University of the
West of England
Coventry
University
etc
Threshold Concepts
Akin to a portal opening up a new and
previously inaccessible way of thinking
about something.
Represents a transformed way of
understanding, or interpreting, or viewing
something without which the learner finds
it difficult to progress, within the
curriculum as formulated.
etc
Notion that within specific disciplines there
exist significant ‘threshold concepts’, leading
to new and previously inaccessible ways of
thinking about something.
(Meyer and Land, 2003).
etc
Characteristics of a threshold
concept
•
•
•
•
•
integrative
transformative
irreversible
bounded
troublesome
etc
Threshold Concepts
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.
Such a transformed view or landscape may
represent how people ‘think’ in a particular
discipline, or how they perceive, apprehend, or
experience particular phenomena within that
discipline, or more generally.
etc
Identifying Threshold Concepts in
Economics
The approaches considered are various
• lecturers’ views and approaches to economic
questions
• analysis of students’ responses and writing
• analysis of mark schemes
• comparison of the treatment of a phenomenon
by members of different disciplines.
etc
Problems with the approaches
None of the approaches appears a priori to be
without difficulty.
• Lecturers may refer to those ideas that they
have learnt at some time to regard as key or
fundamental.
• Students’ writing may simply indicate what they
have learned to reproduce given the stimulus of
particular questions rather than the deeper
integrative nature of thinking indicative of
understanding of threshold concepts.
etc
The empirical study investigates using a number of these
methods of identifying threshold concepts in the area of
first year economics
• using approaches with both staff and students.
• students on specialist economics awards and nonspecialists taking economics modules, including
students studying business, accountancy and
technology.
• students of different ability and with different peer groups
• responses using different methods have been obtained
from the same student for comparison of the approaches.
etc
And then……..
• to trial methods of helping students grasp
threshold concepts
• to embed ‘threshold concepts’ in the
curriculum
etc