Recognizing Threshold Concepts

ways to recognize when students are faced with a threshold concept
  1. Strug­gle and Resis­tance: Stu­dents may show signs of strug­gle or resis­tance when encoun­ter­ing a thresh­old con­cept. This could man­i­fest as con­fu­sion, frus­tra­tion, or reluc­tance to engage with the mate­r­i­al.Online Education Problems. Tired Young Asian Student Lady Looking At Computer Screen, Bored Korean Woman Sitting At Desk With Computer, Having Difficulties With Distance Learning, Free Space
  2. Mis­con­cep­tions and mis­in­ter­pre­ta­tions: Edu­ca­tors may observe com­mon pat­terns of mis­un­der­stand­ing among stu­dents or recur­ring mis­con­cep­tions that per­sist despite clar­i­fi­ca­tion and instruc­tion.
  3. Crit­i­cal ques­tions and reflec­tions: Stu­dents may ask prob­ing ques­tions or engage in reflec­tive dis­cus­sions that indi­cate they are grap­pling with the under­ly­ing prin­ci­ples of the thresh­old con­cept. They may ques­tion assump­tions, seek clar­i­fi­ca­tion, or express curios­i­ty about alter­na­tive per­spec­tives, sig­nal­ing a deep­er lev­el of engage­ment with the mate­r­i­al.
  4. Incon­sis­ten­cies in Learn­ing Progress: Edu­ca­tors may notice incon­sis­ten­cies in stu­dents’ learn­ing progress or per­for­mance relat­ed to the thresh­old con­cept. Some stu­dents may demon­strate sud­den break­throughs or “aha” moments where they sud­den­ly grasp the con­cept, while oth­ers may con­tin­ue to strug­gle or show min­i­mal improve­ment over time.
  5. Metacog­ni­tive Aware­ness: Stu­dents may reflect on their learn­ing process and artic­u­late their under­stand­ing (or lack there­of) of the thresh­old con­cept. They may express uncer­tain­ty about their com­pre­hen­sion, acknowl­edge areas of con­fu­sion, or artic­u­late strate­gies they are using to over­come obsta­cles.
  6. Appli­ca­tion and Trans­fer: Stu­dents may strug­gle to apply or trans­fer their under­stand­ing of the thresh­old con­cept to new con­texts or prob­lem-solv­ing tasks. They may demon­strate dif­fi­cul­ty in rec­og­niz­ing when and how to apply the con­cept appro­pri­ate­ly, indi­cat­ing a need for addi­tion­al sup­port or scaf­fold­ing.
  7. Peer Inter­ac­tions: Edu­ca­tors may observe stu­dents dis­cussing the thresh­old con­cept with their peers or col­lab­o­rat­ing on prob­lem-solv­ing tasks. Peer inter­ac­tions can pro­vide valu­able insights into stu­dents’ under­stand­ing, as they may reveal com­mon mis­con­cep­tions, alter­na­tive per­spec­tives, or strate­gies for over­com­ing obsta­cles.
VIDEO: Breaking Through Threshold Concepts as Key to Understanding

LINK TO VIDEO (19:11 min­utes): In this video Dr. Robert Coven shares insights on break­ing through thresh­old con­cepts as keys to under­stand­ing. Dr. Coven has been teach­ing for over 30 years and holds a PhD in Cur­ricu­lum and Instruc­tion. This talk was giv­en at a TEDx event using the TED con­fer­ence for­mat but inde­pen­dent­ly orga­nized by a local com­mu­ni­ty.

READING: Integrating Threshold Concepts into the Curriculum

LINK TO READING: From the Office of Teach­ing and Learn­ing at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Guelph. The Office of Teach­ing and Learn­ing (OTL) is the leader in cham­pi­oning the Uni­ver­si­ty of Guelph’s ped­a­gog­i­cal mis­sion. The Office pro­vides exper­tise in, and pas­sion­ate­ly advo­cates for, inno­v­a­tive and evi­dence-informed ped­a­gog­i­cal approach­es to build, main­tain, and pro­mote col­lab­o­ra­tive suc­cess­es for their learn­ers and cam­pus com­mu­ni­ty.