Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge: an introduction / Jan H.F. Meyer and Ray Land -- Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge: issues of liminality / Jan H.F. Meyer and Ray Land -- Constructivism and troublesome knowledge / David Perkins -- Metacognition, affect, and conceptual difficulty / Anastasia Efklides -- Threshold concepts: how can we recognise them? / Peter Davies -- Threshold concepts in biology: do they fit the definition? / Charlotte Taylor -- The troublesome nature of a threshold concept in economics / Martin Shanahan and Jan H.F. Meyer -- Threshold concepts in economics: a case study / Nicola Reimann and Ian jackson -- Threshold concepts, troublesome knowledge and emotional capital: an exploration into learning about others / Glynis Cousin -- Developing new 'world views' : threshold concepts in introductory accounting / Ursula Lucas and Rosina Mladenovic -- Disjunction as a form of troublesome knowledge in problem-based learning / Maggi Savin-Baden -- On the mastery of philosophical concepts: Socratic discourse and the unexpected "affect" / Jenny Booth -- Using analogy in science teaching as a bridge to students' understanding of complex issues / Simon Bishop -- Conclusion : implications of threshold concepts for course design and evaluation / Ray Land, Glynis Cousin, Jan H.F. Meyer and Peter Davies.
0
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
Overcoming Barriers to Student Learning explores why certain students "get stuck" at particular points in the curriculum whilst others grasp concepts with comparative ease. It proposes a "threshold concepts" approach to the curriculum, arguing that in certain disciplines there are "conceptual gateways" or "portals" that lead to previously inaccessible, and initially perhaps "troublesome," ways of thinking about something. A new way of understanding, interpreting, or viewing a topic may thus emerge - having a transformative effect on internal view of subject matter, subject landscape, or even world view. While maintaining that knowledge should indeed be "troubling" in order for it to be transformative, this book provides new perspectives on helping students through such conceptual difficulty in order to enhance learning and teaching environments in higher education, and in other educational sectors. It discusses: Ways of dealing with the kinds of anxiety, self-doubt and frustration that learning can evoke in students; How we might help our students not to avoid the troublesomeness, but to feel more confident in coping with it, resolving it and moving on with confidence; What might account for variation in student performance when dealing with concepts; What teachers might do in relation to the design and teaching of their courses that could help students overcome such barriers to their learning; What makes particular areas of knowledge more troublesome than others. The illustrative case studies presented here will help teachers analyze their own practice. Overcoming Barriers to Student Learning will serve the needs of educational researchers and developers, and academics within various disciplines who wish to learn more about threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge.