Identifying Threshold Concepts
Why is it so difficult to figure out the most important concepts to teach?
Consider the following example:
Did you know that there is an arrow embedded in the FedEx logo? Maybe you did. If you didn't, look for it next time. Once you see it, you will never be able to look at the FedEx logo again without the arrow popping out at you. You will not understand how you ever missed it.
"Threshold concepts" refers to the most fundamental concepts in a discipline. One of the most problematic features of threshold concepts is that they are irreversible: Once you grasp a threshold concept, you cannot go back to your previous way of seeing something. The FedEx example is not exactly a threshold concept, but it illustrates in a simple way the "irreversibility" of seeing.
This irreversibility of threshold concepts makes it inherently difficult for teachers to identify them. We have absorbed them so deeply into our beings that we often don’t remember even learning them.
A second feature of threshold concepts is that, unlike the example of the FedEx logo, they are learned gradually, and they are profoundly transformational:
"A threshold concept can be considered as akin to 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 cannot progress. 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."
—Jan H.F Meyer and Ray Land 2003
What are the threshold concepts in your own discipline? To identify them, you might look at amateur work in your field. What fundamental understandings set the pros apart from the amateurs? What do practitioners need to know (and how do they need to think) in order to become contributing members of your field?
How many of your students have grasped these threshold concepts? How can you tell?
The process of understanding threshold concepts and adjusting one's worldview is often very difficult. Unlike the instant recognition of the arrow in the FedEx logo, understanding a threshold concept is more of a journey of questioning (and perhaps self-doubt), during which students typically go back and forth between using their old lens ("common sense") and their new lens (the threshold concept) until the new concept is comfortable and familiar enough to rely on. Teachers need to be especially supportive of students as they progress through the understanding of a threshold concept. Then and only then can students progress in their understanding of a discipline, and ultimately become contributing members in a field.
Reference:
Jan H.F Meyer, Ray Land, and Caroline Baillie, Eds. Threshold Concepts and Transformational Learning. Boston: Sense Publishers, 2010. https://www.sensepublishers.com/files/9789460912078PR.pdf
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