Threshold concepts: a ‘new’ way
of looking at how students learn in
their subjects with implications for
curriculum design
Prof Lin Norton
3 November 2010
Supporting Student Learning
LTHM008
1
What are they and
why focus on them?
• Threshold concepts are fundamental to the subject and
essential for students to grasp.
• They have been described by Land et al (2005) as the
‘jewels in the curriculum’ because they are concepts
that subject specialists hold to be central to the mastery
of their subject.
• They are described as ‘threshold’ because they have
particular characteristics
3 November 2010
Supporting Student Learning
LTHM008
2
How do students ‘get’ it?
(Atherton, 2008)
• Teacher of engineering said “that guy will pass his
assessments and get his degree, but he’ll never think like an
engineer”
• Tom Angelo quotes example of physics graduates
• Atherton says this is partly to do:
– with how we teach (the stuffed curriculum’)
– how we assess (what is easy and measurable, tailoring our
teaching to help students pass assessments)
• Ways of thinking and practising are difficult to teach directly and
very difficult to assess except in courses where there are
placements.
3 November 2010
Supporting Student Learning
LTHM008
• So what might be done?
3
The theory of threshold concepts
• Arose from an ESRC/TLA research project which was
looking at effective learning environments for
undergraduates which looked at this question in 5
subject strands www.tla.ed.ac.uk/etl
• Meyer and Land were working in the economics strand
and developed their theory out of their realisation that
certain concepts were held by economists to be central
to the mastery of their subject. If a student is unable to
grasp these threshold concepts, she or he may be able
to pass their exams and graduate, but they will never be
able to think like an economist.
3 November 2010
Supporting Student Learning
LTHM008
4
Introducing threshold concepts
• Growing body of research (derived from work of Meyer
and Land, 2003,2005,2006) to suggest that within every
discipline or subject, there are some ideas which hold
the key to students getting it: threshold concepts
• They are different for each discipline.
• They are not the whole answer, but they are necessary
for authentic, genuine learning,
• If threshold concepts have not been understood,
students will never ‘get it’.
3 November 2010
Supporting Student Learning
LTHM008
5
What are threshold concepts?
• A threshold concept is like 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 can
not progress.
• As a consequence of comprehending a threshold concept there
may be a transformed internal view of subject matter, subject
landscape, or even world view.
• “A threshold concept is thus seen as something distinct within
what university teachers would typically describe as ‘core
concepts’.
• A core concept is a conceptual ‘building block’ that progresses
understanding of the subject; it has to be understood but it does
not necessarily lead to a qualitatively different view of subject
matter” Meyer &Land, 2003
3 November 2010
Supporting Student Learning
LTHM008
6
Characteristics of threshold
concepts
1.
Transformative- marks an important step into the culture of
the subject
2.
Irreversible- (can’t forget it , but it can be transformed or
modified to refine understanding)
3.
Integrative- allows us to see the relatedness of ideasenables us to make connections that were previously
hidden
4.
Bounded- there will be borders with other threshold
concepts
5.
Troublesome- can be seen as counter-intuitive, unsettling
3 November 2010
Supporting Student Learning
LTHM008
7
Example of a threshold concept in L&T
in HE: approaches to teaching (1)
• What is an ‘expert’ teacher?
–
–
–
–
Knowledgeable about the subject?
Researches the area in which she or he teaches?
Scholarly approach to the discipline?
Set of advanced teaching skills that present knowledge in such a
way as to be readily understood b the students?
• All the above are characteristics of an information
transmission/ teacher- focussed approach to teaching
(see Trigwell & Prosser, 2004)
3 November 2010
Supporting Student Learning
LTHM008
8
Example of a threshold concept in L&T
in HE: approaches to teaching (2)
• A conceptual change/student focused approach to
teaching (Trigwell & Prosser, 2004) implies that:
– what the student learns is more important than what the teacher
teaches
– Is related to learning outcomes
– Is aimed at helping students change their views and/or
conceptions of the phenomena they are studying
– Is aimed at helping students reconstruct their knowledge
• If you really take this on board, it will change the way you
understand the whole process of teaching and learning,
it will change your views of students and it will change
how you think of yourself as a teacher and what you do
• It is, therefore, a threshold concept
3 November 2010
Supporting Student Learning
LTHM008
9
Why is that a threshold concept?
• Difficult to grasp- books and journal papers have been written about it!
• This is a concept that relates to ways of thinking about the discipline of
the scholarship of teaching and learning and to our professional practice
• Changes our whole understanding of ‘teaching’ and why and how our
own struggles as professional practitioners must be worked through
(transformative, irreversible and troublesome)
• Understanding that difficulties and past conflicts do not have to all be
resolved but acknowledged and used (integrative and bounded)
• Can be extremely uncomfortable for us as teachers who have our own
experiences, are influenced by our colleagues and mentors and may
want to reject this understanding (troublesome)
3 November 2010
Supporting Student Learning
LTHM008
10
What disciplines are using
threshold concepts?
•Mathematics- complex numbers and limits in mathematics
•Statistics - confidence intervals
•Economics- opportunity pricing (most researched)
•Biology - evolution
•Computer science - object-oriented programming
•Health related - caring, clinical fluency in nurses
Largely science-based so far.
Not much evidence of yet being used in
Education/Humanities based subjects ……??
3 November 2010
Supporting Student Learning
LTHM008
11
Not just elements
• As more research being done, becoming apparent that
threshold concepts are not just single clearly defined
elements but may be much more closely aligned to
distinctive ways of thinking and practicing.
• Some threshold concepts are obvious, but sometimes
because they are so obvious we, as teachers, might not
pay enough attention to them and do not realise our
students do not understand them. (e.g. probability in
psychology statistics)
3 November 2010
Supporting Student Learning
LTHM008
12
The eureka moment
• When real understanding happens it’s irreversible,
you cannot un-understand something.
• The ‘light has been switched on’, the ‘penny’s
dropped’, the ‘aha’ moment.
• It’s uplifting and exciting and you want to go on- you
are not at the threshold any more, you have gone
through the portal
• Not all threshold concepts are related to Eureka
moments – according to Meyer & Land they can be
sighted and rejected, and only gradually accepted, if
at all…
3 November 2010
Supporting Student Learning
LTHM008
13
So what happens if threshold
concepts are not understood?
Likely that:
– Students will mimic understanding – they are very good
at it! (and may be able to go through their whole degree
programme ’faking it’)
– Learning becomes a ritualised performance
– Assessment becomes artificial and mechanistic
3 November 2010
Supporting Student Learning
LTHM008
14
What are the
3 November 2010
jewels in the curriculum?
Supporting Student Learning
LTHM008
15
The jewels in the curriculum are powerful transformative
points in the students learning experience- as such they
identify key areas that need mastery (Cousins, 2006)
According to Land (et al, 2006):“A focus on these jewels
allows for richer and more complex insights into aspects of
the subjects students are studying; it plays a diagnostic role in
alerting tutors to areas of the curriculum where students are
likely to encounter troublesome knowledge and experience
conceptual difficulty”
Cousins suggest practical strategies to help students:
Listening for understanding
A holding environment for the toleration of
confusion
Recursiveness and excursiveness
3 November 2010
Supporting Student Learning
LTHM008
16
Three questions to ponder
1. Can you think of an example of just one threshold
concept in your subject?
2. How can you distinguish between genuine
understanding of this threshold concept and a fake
or simulated understanding?
3. Can you give an example of how you would
organise the teaching and assessment experience
which would most likely lead to students properly
grasping this threshold concept?
3 November 2010
Supporting Student Learning
LTHM008
17
Further reading and resources
•
Atherton, J.S (2008) Doceo; Introduction to Threshold Concepts (on-line) UK Available
http://www.doceo.co.uk/tools/threshold_3.htm
•
Burchmore, Irvine & Carmichael(2007) Threshold Concepts: A Review of Related
Literature. Available http://www.caret.cam.ac.uk/tel/downloads/tel_literature_review.pdf
•
Land, R., Cousin, G., Meyer, J.H.F. & Davies, P (2005) Threshold concepts and
troublesome knowledge (3):implications for course design and evaluation. In C.Rust (ED)
Improving student learning12-Diversity and inclusivity (pp 53-64) Oxford, UK; Oxford
Brookes University.
•
Threshold Concepts: Undergraduate Teaching, Postgraduate Training and Professional
Development. A short introduction and reference list available
at http://www.ee.ucl.ac.uk/~mflanaga/thresholds.html
•
Erik Meyer, one of keynotes at forthcoming PRHE conference will talk about threshold
concepts http://www.hope.ac.uk/learningandteaching/lat.php?page=prhe&current=prhe
•
Trigwell, K & Prosser, M (2004) Development and Use of the Approaches to Teaching
Inventory, Educational Psychology Review, Vol. 16, No. 4, 409-424
3 November 2010
Supporting Student Learning
LTHM008
18