Actively Engaging students in order to Overcome Threshold Concepts

Abstract

Threshold concepts are concepts that are critical to the understanding of a topic while at the same time being difficult for students to grasp. This report explores what threshold concepts are and what it means to engage students in the context of threshold concepts. We interviewed lecturers about their understanding of threshold concepts and about their approaches to helping students overcome these thresholds. We then presented three different ways to help students overcome these concepts: putting the threshold concepts at the centre of a course, sensitising students to threshold concepts throughout the course and activating students in lectures. We then discuss the various approaches and the responses from the lecturers and make recommendations on how best to deal with course threshold concepts.