Threshold concept

I must confess that my Tuesdays class was quite mind boggling to me.  Ever had an encounter with a learning concept that you grapple to fully understand, it could be physics law of gravity or it could be the accounting appreciation and depreciation concepts.  If you, like  me  have  ever had to think and rethink out of your own box of knowledge to understand something, then you my friend  would have met a Threshold concept.

Threshold concept are theories of teaching designed  by two British educators, Jan Meyer and Ray land.  Hofer (2013,109)  The two educators came up with 5 defining criteria that best explains a threshold concept.

1. Trans-formative- If the concepts is trans formative it has the power to  open ones mind  to previously inaccessible ways of thinking, mostly when you get to that level it changes your whole perspective, if a student studying to be a nurse, it will give meaning to how a nurse looks, thinks, behaves and can position ones outlook on a profession forever.

2. Troublesome- A new concept becomes troublesome, if it challenges or counter that is already known by one, it could feel or sound alien to one, it can even be difficult to comprehend as it can be different towards ones cultural beliefs, i.e The world is round, whilst to many it looks and feels flat.

3. Irreversible- Threshold concept are so powerful that once learned, they become difficult to unlearn, as they permanently remain on ones psyche.

4. Integrative- Threshold concept can be applicable or linked to other study disciplines, that which might not appear to a learner at first can become clear when  spoken in relation to other fields, i.e for nurses in their quest to care and nurse their patients, they must also dapple and learn more about their patients religious and cultural beliefs.

5. Bounded- If a threshold concept is bounded, it is known or uniquely linked to a particular discipline. i.e the acts of persons.

Tonight I will conclude in saying as teachers librarians when presenting or teaching new concept to our students, one must be careful of the liminal state, that which students may find themselves in when being introduced to new knowledge, when you may seem to have grasped the concept in class, but may be a different story when doing homework.  Educators must not move too fast with a  subject and leave others behind, as explained in my previous blog, people are unique and learn differently.

See and learn more about threshold concepts....