The learning of a troublesome (or threshold) concept is usually not a straightforward experience, as the learners may "need to pass through conceptual portals to adopt important and advanced ways of understanding" (Meyer & Land, 2005, p.373).
Nevertheless, this functions as a crossroad to a previously inaccessible route to understanding and eventual transformation. This is known as threshold crossing which offers the learner a transformational view of the subject matter (Meyer & Land, 2005).
References:
Meyer, J. and Land, R. (2005) "Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (2): Epistemological considerations and a conceptual framework for teaching and learning", Higher Education, 49(3), pp. 373-388. doi: 10.1007/s10734-004-6779-5.
Sorry I have no medical or scientific research expertise. My work is in learning and teaching: see ‘Inside Teaching: How to Make a Difference for Every Learner and Teacher’ (Routledge, 2017).
Dear Dr John Blanchard . Thanks for referring an important learning resource.
My question is rather 'Discipline specific'. I am in search of the critical bottlenecks that students often come across while studying pharmacology. These troublesome chunks of knowledge make student to think in a different 'out of box' thinking.
Yesterday, a casual meeting with a subject expert was extremely fruitful. According to him one of the most important threshold concept in pharmacology is Drug 'Volume of distribution' . I am looking forward for more to come.
Based on my prior experience in teaching pharmacology, students experience difficulty in pharmacology because they don't link the mechanism of action of a drug to their prior knowledge of biochemistry/physiology. Perhaps this integration is missing is due to students learning pharmacology superficially, as it perceived to be a low yield subject.
Thanks Dr Azam Afzal for sharing an important aspect of pharmacology learning. You are absolutely right that a subject liked pharmacology needs integration of student prior knowledge of biochemistry and physiology to understand the mechanism of action of drugs particularly when a person is using more than one drugs. Despite the integrated curriculum and PBL foster effective learning of many basic sciences subjects, such as anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and pathology but pharmacology has not been given the due importance and sufficient coverage as a discipline. Moreover, students discuss pharmacology and drugs towards the end of case in a superficial manner.
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