Threshold Concepts
- How does learning occur?
Students need to make a connection from their childhood life through metaphors, analogies, and descriptions. This way they can relate something they know about to learn more about an adult concept.
- What applications does it have to learning and education?
Economics can relate this to cost by applying it to what they need to do to acquire what they desire. Health can discuss how to take care of themselves depending upon their responsibilities. Biology can relate it to energy transfer and the food they eat to food webs.
- What types of learning are best explained by the theory
This type of learning is easier to apply to a conceptual idea then a memorized fact. Math and science topics generally use this type of learning while history doesn’t.
- Example
"They [students] view statistics as a branch of mathematics because it uses mathematical formulas, so they look at statistics through a mathematical lens. What they are missing is the statistical lens through which to view the world, allowing this world to make sense. The concept of sampling distribution is this statistical lens. My own experience discovering this lens was a revelation, akin to the experience I had when I put on my first pair of eyeglasses – suddenly everything was sharp and clear".
http://www.nagt.org/files/nagt/jge/columns/research_methodologies_science.pdf
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Disclaimer
Any opinions expressed here, except as specifically noted, are those of the individual authors or commenters and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the Department of Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences, the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services, or Utah State University.
