1177-threshold-concepts-and-transformational-learning

SCHWARTZMANThey are redefined here (using a taxonomy (Simon 1996) based on the proposedtheoretical foundation), to provide both the explanations and the separation ofconcerns (Dijkstra 1972) required for more careful analysis.TC terms of art:– threshold: a point of rupture in knowing;– threshold concept: existentially unfamiliar (therefore leading to rupture inknowing), educationally critical content of a discipline so fundamental tounderstanding that it permanently transforms the practitioner’s view;– liminality: a period of unresolved explicitness, in the form of reflectiveness ordefensiveness; an observer may have difficulty, in process, identifying whichresponse is occurring;– troublesome knowledge: an anomaly that cannot be avoided, ignored, or made toconform, leading to a rupture in knowing.tc characteristics: If tc learning corresponds to a reformulated meaning frame, itqualifies as– transformative: by definition;– irreversible: because meaning frames appear to exist only as dynamic entities inoperation at an unconscious level, no structural integrity attaches to a formermeaning frame and holds it together for later re-use;– integrative: because a new meaning frame, by definition, illuminates therelations of interdependence ... binding isolated items into a coherent singlewhole (Dewey 1991 p. 80);– troublesome: by definition, one experiences as troubling any encounter with theexistentially unfamiliar that cannot be ignored, avoided, or made to conform;– bounded new concept space: as the existentially unfamiliar is never exhausted(Dewey notes that it may arise – always unexpectedly – from any source, at anytime, in any place), any concept space is limited in scope.CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORKI have proposed here a reflectiveness/defensiveness framework as a candidate(discipline-independent) theoretical foundation for Threshold Concepts. It isintended to illuminate connections in the body of existing TC literature and act asan organizing principle out of which the field can continue to emerge in a coherentway. The explanatory theory defined by it extends beyond description, analogy,and metaphor to provide explanation for TC terms of art and tc-associatedcharacteristics. The two, in combination, also suggest additional possibilities forTC practice and for refining discourse within the developing TC community.In Husserl’s terms, the former constitutes a conceptual system, the latter principlesof theoretical explanation. My exploration and development of the reflectiveness /defensiveness framework continues with the case study course in my discipline.The ultimate usefulness of this framework (in itself) to the developing TC42