Threshold conceptapproach to curriculum design

stuffing curriculum

with contentvs

focusing on what is

fundamental

Contrast

‘less is more’ approach to curriculum design

concepts that are central to the mastery of a subject

portals to new ways of thinking

Mathematics:Algebraic notation

X2 = 1

X = 1 or X = -1

Y = X2

Cookery:Heat transfer

+ immediately

wait a few minutes then +

Sports Science:

Aquatic confidence

Gaining confidence in the water

Appreciation of water as a sporting environment

CharacteristicsTransformative

- shift in perception of the subject

Irreversible

- unlikely to be forgotten

Integrative

- exposes previously hidden interrelatedness

Bounded

- might define frontier into new area

Troublesome knowledge

- counter-intuitive, alien, incoherent

Oscillation between old and new understandings

Occupation of liminal space while mastering threshold concept

E-learninglends itself to required:

excursion

recursion

digression

Meyer, J. and Land, R. (2003) Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to Ways of Thinking and Practising within the Disciplines, Occasional Report 4, Edinburgh: ETL Project

Available at:

http://www.tla.ed.ac.uk/etl/docs/ETLreport4.pdf

Reference

What (in this subject):As a learner – did you find hard?

As a teacher – do some students never seem to learn?

As a designer – do students have to grasp to move on to higher levels of understanding?