Developing First year Undergraduates’ Acquisition of Threshold Concepts etcetc

Embedding Threshold Concepts is a three year FDTL5 project Staffordshire University Coventry University University of Durham University of the West of England etcetc

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. etcetc

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). etcetc

Characteristics of a threshold concept integrative transformative irreversible bounded troublesome etcetc

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. etcetc

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. etcetc

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. etcetc

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 non- specialists 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. etcetc

And then…….. to trial methods of helping students grasp threshold concepts to embed ‘threshold concepts’ in the curriculum etcetc