Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge A transformational approach to learning Ray Land,...
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Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge A transformational approach to learning Ray Land, Strathclyde University, Glasgow UK University of York Annual
Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge A transformational
approach to learning Ray Land, Strathclyde University, Glasgow UK
University of York Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 25th th
May 2011
Slide 2
Troublesome knowledge
Slide 3
Real learning requires stepping into the unknown, which
initiates a rupture in knowing... By definition, all TC scholarship
is concerned (directly or indirectly) with encountering the
unknown. Schwartzman 2010 p.38
Slide 4
An eclectic approach ....Land and Meyer may be seen as
promiscuous mongrels who care not with whom they sleep... (Cousin
2006)
Slide 5
pax intrantibus, salus exeuntibus (1609)
Slide 6
Slide 7
I am part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch
wherethro Gleams that untravelld world, whose margin fades For ever
and for ever when I move. Tennyson Ulysses
Slide 8
Threshold concepts Liminality Troublesome knowledge Episteme
(the underlying game)
Slide 9
Causes of conceptual (or other) difficulty?
Slide 10
The role of the teacher is to arrange victories for the
students Quintilian 35-100 AD
Slide 11
The prevailing discourse of outcomes, alignment and achievement
has, from critical perspectives, been deemed to serve managerialist
imperatives without necessarily engaging discipline-based academics
in significant reconceptualisation or review of their practice.
(cf.Newton, 2000).
Slide 12
Academics own definitions of quality would seem to remain
predominantly discipline- centred (cf. Henkel, 2000:106).
Slide 13
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).
Slide 14
Concept? a unit of thought or element of knowledge that allows
us to organize experience Janet Gail Donald (2001) Learning to
Think: Disciplinary Perspectives
Slide 15
James Joyces epiphany the revelation of the whatness of a
thing. But threshold concepts are both more constructed and
re-constitutive than revelatory, and not necessarily sudden. (
Slide 16
Akin to a portal, a liminal space, 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. Threshold Concepts
Slide 17
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.
Slide 18
However the engagement by the learner with an unfamiliar
knowledge terrain and the ensuing reconceptualisation may involve a
reconstitution of, or shift within, the learners subjectivity, and
perhaps identity. Ontological implications. Learning as a change in
subjectivity. (Pelletier 2007).
Slide 19
Liminality a transformative state that engages existing
certainties and renders them problematic, and fluid a suspended
state in which understanding can approximate to a kind of mimicry
or lack of authenticity liminality as unsettling sense of loss
Slide 20
First student: I understood it in class, it was when we went
away and I just seemed to have completely forgotten everything that
we did on it, and I think that was when I struggled because when we
were sat in here, wed obviously got help if we had questions
but..when it came to applying it.I understood the lectures and
everything that we did on it but couldnt actually apply it, I think
that was the difficulty. from G. Cousin, Journal of Learning
Development Feb 2010
Slide 21
Q. Did you feel the same as student 1? Second student: Yeah. I
felt lost. Q. In lecture times as well? Second student: You know, I
understood the concept for about lets say 10 seconds, yes yes, I
got that and then suddenly, no no, I didnt get that, you know,
suddenly, like this. from G. Cousin, Journal of Learning
Development Feb 2010
Slide 22
Well, from not knowing what it is to knowing what it is, that
is the big step one. So that can be knowing how to apply the
concepts that we use. There are some things you learn, you suddenly
think, wow, suddenly everything seems differentyou now see the
world quite differently. from G. Cousin, Journal of Learning
Development Feb 2010
Slide 23
Janus divinity of the threshold epistemological
ontological
Slide 24
Characteristics of a threshold concept integrative
transformative irreversible bounded re-constitutive discursive
troublesome
Slide 25
East of Eden through the threshold
Slide 26
Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon; The world
was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and
Providence their guide. They, hand in hand, with wandering steps
and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way. John Milton
(Paradise Lost, Book XII; 1667)
Slide 27
Slide 28
Examples Pure Maths complex number, a limit, the Fourier
transform Literary Studies signification, deconstruction, ethical
reading Economics opportunity cost, price, elasticity Design
Confidence to challenge Computer Science programming, Y and
Recursion Exercise Physiology metabolism Law - precedence
Accounting - depreciation Biology, Psychology - evolution Politics
the state Engineering reactive power, spin History Asiatic
Conceptions of Time Comparative Religion Biblical texts as Literary
Texts Plant Science Photoprotection Health Science Care Physics
Gravity Geology - Geologic Time
Slide 29
Opportunity Cost Opportunity cost in any particular choice is,
of course, influenced by prior choices that have been made, but
with respect to this choice itself, opportunity cost is
choice-influencing rather than choice-influenced Thus, if accepted
by the individual student as a valid way of interpreting the world,
it fundamentally changes their way of thinking about their own
choices, as well as serving as a tool to interpret the choices made
by others. (Shanahan, 2002)
Slide 30
They view statistics as a branch of mathematics because it uses
mathematical formulas, so they look at statistics through a
mathematical lens. What they are missing is the statistical lens
through which to view the world, allowing this world to make sense.
The concept of sampling distribution is this statistical lens. My
own experience discovering this lens was a revelation, akin to the
experience I had when I put on my first pair of eyeglasses suddenly
everything was sharp and clear. (Kennedy, 1998 p.142) Sampling
Distribution
Slide 31
Reflection (deep learning) (Schwartzman 2009) As a result of
deep learning, one switches dynamically -- within the same field of
consciousness -- among thematic foci, with correspondent
restructuring of thematic fields. The total set of elements in the
field remains constant, while boundaries among the thematic focus,
the thematic field, and the margin become fluid; and component
elements shift between adjacent domains. The mechanism of dynamic
switching among extant elements corresponds to reflection; the
operation corresponds to refinement and clarification of one's
extant meaning frame.
Slide 32
Reflectiveness (transformative learning) (Schwartzman 2009) As
a result of transformative learning, in contrast, the contents of
the field of consciousness change. Elements formerly not found in
any domain of consciousness, possibly including component parts of
elements formerly classified as nondecomposable, now occupy the
thematic focus or reside in the thematic field; and some elements
formerly found there are now relegated to the margin. The mechanism
remains mysterious and corresponds to reflectiveness; the
operation, which results in a different population in the field of
consciousness, corresponds to reformulation of one's meaning
frame.
Slide 33
When troubles come they come not single spies, but in
battalions (Hamlet Act 4 Sc 5 ll 83-84) Troublesome Knowledge
Slide 34
looking for trouble Knowledge is troublesome for a variety of
reasons (Perkins 2006). It might be alien, inert, tacit,
conceptually difficult, counter-intuitive, characterised by an
inaccessible underlying game, or characterised by supercomplexity.
such troublesomeness and disquietude is purposeful, as it is the
provoker of change that cannot be assimilated, and hence is the
instigator of new learning and new ontological possibility.
Slide 35
Troublesome knowledge ritual knowledge inert knowledge
conceptually difficult knowledge the defended learner alien
knowledge tacit knowledge loaded knowledge troublesome
language
Slide 36
A relational view of the features of a threshold concept
Slide 37
Episteme: the underlying game a system of ideas or way of
understanding that allows us to establish knowledge...the
importance of students understanding the structure of the
disciplines they are studying. Ways of knowing is another phrase in
the same spirit. As used here, epistemes are manners of justifying,
explaining, solving problems, conducting enquiries, and designing
and validating various kinds of products or outcomes. (Perkins 2006
p.42) knowledge practices (Strathearn 2008)
Slide 38
Double trouble: games of enquiry Concepts can prove difficult
both in their categorical function and in the activity systems or
games of enquiry they support. Not only content concepts but the
underlying epistemes of the disciplines make trouble for learners,
with confusion about content concepts often reflecting confusion
about the underlying epistemes. (Perkins 2006 p.45)
Slide 39
Intellectual uncertainty Intellectual uncertainty is not
necessarily or simply a negative experience, a dead-end sense of
not knowing, or of indeterminacy. It is just as well an experience
of something open, generative, exhilarating, (the trembling of what
remains undecidable). I wish to suggest that intellectual
uncertainty is..a crucial dimension of any teaching worthy of the
name. (Royle 2003 : 52)
Slide 40
Venturing into strange places The student is perforce required
to venture into new places, strange places, anxiety-provoking
places. This is part of the point of higher education. If there was
no anxiety, it is difficult to believe that we could be in the
presence of a higher education. (Barnett 2007: 147)
Slide 41
Pedagogies of uncertainty it's... insufficient to claim that a
combination of theory, practice, and ethics defines a
professional's work; it is also characterized by conditions of
inherent and unavoidable uncertainty. Professionals rarely can
employ simple algorithms or protocols of practice in performing
their services. How then does a professional adapt to new and
uncertain circumstances? She exercises judgment. (Shulman
2005:1)
Slide 42
Pedagogies of uncertainty That anxiety derives from the risk
involved in putting forward ideas and defending them, from knowing
that one must be prepared for class, from the fear of making a fool
of oneself. The anxiety is either adaptive or paralyzing. Managing
levels of anxiety is a major responsibility of the teacher, but is
also a responsibility of the collective. Because they all feel it,
students must learn how to simultaneously challenge and support
each other's thinking. (Shulman 2005:4)
Slide 43
Pedagogies of uncertainty In these settings, the presence of
emotion, even a modicum of passion, is quite striking--as is its
absence in other settings. I would say that without a certain
amount of anxiety and risk, there's a limit to how much learning
occurs. One must have something at stake. No emotional investment,
no intellectual or formational yield. (Shulman 2005:4)
Slide 44
Decoding the Disciplines 1.What is a bottleneck to learning in
this class? 2.How does an expert do these things? 3.How can these
tasks be explicitly modelled? 4.How will students practise these
skills and get feedback? 5.What will motivate the students? 6.How
well are students mastering these learning tasks? 7.How can the
resulting knowledge about learning be shared? (Middendorf, J. and
Pace,D. 2004)
Slide 45
Ten Considerations for Course Design
Slide 46
1 jewels in the curriculum Threshold concepts can be used to
define potentially powerful transformative points in the students
learning experience. In this sense they may be viewed as the jewels
in the curriculum.
Slide 47
2 importance of engagement Existing literature regarding
teachers who want students to develop genuine understanding of a
difficult concept points to the need for engagement eg. They must
ask students to explain it represent it in new ways apply it in new
situations connect it to their lives and NOT simply recall the
concept in the form in which it was presented (Colby, et.al, 2003:
p263).
Slide 48
3 listening for understanding However, teaching for
understanding needs to be preceded by listening for understanding.
We cant second guess where students are coming from or what their
uncertainties are. It is difficult for teachers to gaze backwards
across thresholds.
Slide 49
4 reconstitution of self Grasping a concept is never just a
cognitive shift; it also involves a repositioning of self in
relation to the subject. This means from the viewpoint of
curriculum design that some attention has to be paid to the
discomforts of troublesome knowledge
Slide 50
5 recursiveness The need for the learner to grasp threshold
concepts in recursive movements means that they cannot be tackled
in a simplistic 'learning outcomes' model where sentences like 'by
the end of the course the learner will be able to.... undermine the
complexities of the transformation a learner undergoes (post-
liminal variation). Consideration of threshold concepts to some
extent rattles the cage of a linear, outcomes-based approach to
curriculum design.
Slide 51
6 tolerating uncertainty Learners tend to discover that what is
not clear initially often becomes clear over time. So there is a
metacognitive issue for the student (self-regulation within the
liminal state) and a need for the teacher to provide a holding
environment' (Winnicott 1960)
Slide 52
Dynamics of Assessment 7
Slide 53
Implies need to reconsider the nature of stimulus, protocol and
signification in assessment practices Why do some students
productively negotiate the liminal space and others find difficulty
in doing so? Does such variation explain how the threshold will be,
or can be, or can only be approached (or turned away from) as it
comes into view? And how does it come into view?
Slide 54
problem of signification of a particular understanding when the
concept is outwith the domain of prior experience need to monitor
progress by revealing thought processes that generally remain
private and troublesome to the learner (Cohen, 1987). in
traditional assessment, a student can produce the right answer
while retaining fundamental misconceptions (Marek, 1986). potential
value of concept mapping to explore such variation (Kinchin and Hay
2006)
Slide 55
Slide 56
8 contestability of generic good pedagogy There is emerging
indicative evidence that the good pedagogy of relating concepts to
everyday phenomena, or simplifying them, can break down, eg
depreciation, opportunity cost.
Slide 57
9 the underlying game (sub-liminal variation) The need to
recognise the games of enquiry we play (Perkins 2006). Disciplines
are more than bundles of concepts. They have their own
characteristic epistemes. Need for students to recognise the
underlying episteme or game and develop epistemic fluency.
Slide 58
10 professional development Possibility of using thresholds
framework to design more discipline-specific programmes of
professional development.
Slide 59
interdisciplinarity
Slide 60
monocularism: the gaze of the Cyclops
Slide 61
Slide 62
The expanding framework
http://www.ee.ucl.ac.uk/~mflanaga/thresholds.html Year No of refs.
20032 20043 20056 200633 200735 200851 200953 2010114 11 theses and
dissertations Links to video, ppt presentations and other TCF
websites 78 discipilinary/subject categories Mick Flanagan 3) The
expanding framework 78 disciplinary/subject categories
Slide 63
Slide 64
References Meyer JHF and Land R 2003 Threshold Concepts and
Troublesome Knowledge Linkages to Ways of Thinking and Practising
in Improving Student Learning Ten Years On. C.Rust (Ed), OCSLD,
Oxford Meyer JHF and Land R 2005 Threshold Concepts and Troublesome
Knowledge (2): epistemological considerations and a conceptual
framework for teaching and learning Higher Education, May. 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
learning: diversity and inclusivity (Oxford, OCSLD), 5364.
