Threshold knowledge is a term in the study of
higher education
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after comple ...
used to describe core concepts—or threshold concepts—which, once understood, transform
perception
Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...
of a given subject, phenomenon, or experience.
[Meyer J H F and Land R 2003 "Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to Ways of Thinking and Practising" in ''Improving Student Learning: Ten Years On''. C. Rust (Ed), OCSLD, Oxford.]
The term was Introduced by Jan Meyer and Ray Land,
[Meyer JHF, Land R (2005). "Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (2): Epistemological considerations and a conceptual framework for teaching and learning" ''Higher Education'', 49(3), 373-388.][Land, R., Cousin, G., Meyer, J.H.F. and Davies, P. (2005), "Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (3): implications for course design and evaluation", in C. Rust (ed.), ''Improving Student Learning − equality and diversity, Proceedings of the 12th Improving Student Learning Conference''. Oxford: OCLSD.] Meyer and Land also discuss the related idea of troublesome knowledge, ideas that appear alien or
counter-intuitive
A paradox is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one's expectation. It is a statement that, despite apparently valid reasoning from true premises, leads to a seemingly self-contradictory or a logically u ...
.
The theory holds that:
These ideas have been explored by several subsequent researchers in a variety of disciplinary contexts including:
* International theory
[Korosteleva, E. A. (2010) Threshold Concept Through Enactive Learnings: How Effective Are They in the Study of European Politics?, International Studies Perspectives, 11, 37-50.]
* Science education
*
Economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...
* Healthcare education
* Miscellaneous
*
Statistics
*
Information literacy
*Writing studies
The theory has also been criticised.
[Rowbottom DP (2007). "Demystifying threshold concepts". ''Journal of Philosophy of Education'', 41(2), 263–270. ]
See also
*
Eureka effect
The eureka effect (also known as the Aha! moment or eureka moment) refers to the common human experience of suddenly understanding a previously incomprehensible problem or concept. Some research describes the Aha! effect (also known as insight or ...
*
Tacit knowledge
Tacit knowledge or implicit knowledge—as opposed to formal, codified or explicit knowledge—is knowledge that is difficult to express or extract, and thus more difficult to transfer to others by means of writing it down or verbalizing it. This ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Threshold concept bibliographyETL Project Occasional Report on threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge, by Meyer and Land
Higher education