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Meyer and Land (2003)
have proposed that in many disciplines there
are threshold concepts, which can be 'considered
akin to passing through a portal, or conceptual
gateway, thus opening up a new and previously
inaccessible way of thinking about something'.
Such concepts lead to a transformed way
of understanding, or viewing something that
may represent how people 'think' in a particular
discipline, or how they perceive, apprehend
or experience particular phenomena within
a discipline.
Threshold concepts offer
potential help in encouraging students towards
deep rather than surface learning. However,
to evaluate whether there is substance to
this promise we need to be able to identify
threshold concepts in a subject, embed these
in the curriculum and evaluate the results.
However, these steps are not straightforward.
Our project is concerned
with the application of this approach to
learning to economics, concentrating on
first year students. It is a partnership
between four universities (Coventry, Durham,
Staffordshire and the West of England) and
runs for three years. We are also looking
for cascade partners to become involved
in the project. If you are interested in
becoming a cascade partner, the link below
gives more information.
Related
economics projects funded by HEFCE FDTL5
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