THRESHOLDS & PORTALS

“…there are certain concepts, or certain learning experiences, which resemble passing through a portal, from which a new perspective opens up, allowing things formerly not perceived to come into view.

This permits a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something.

It represents a transformed way of understanding, or interpreting, or viewing something, without which the learner cannot progress, and results in a reformulation of the learners’ frame of meaning.

The thresholds approach also emphasises the importance of disciplinary contexts.

As a consequence of comprehending a threshold concept there may thus be a transformed internal view of subject matter, subject landscape, or even world view.”*

*Jan Meyer & Ray Land. Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge