The Threshold Concept: helping students towards mastery

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The Threshold Concept helping students towards
mastery

• Sarah Drummond Stephan Jamieson
• CETL Active Learning in Computing (ALiC)
• Department of Computer Science
• Durham University

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Content

• Outline of the programming module
• The Threshold Concept
• Data collection methods
• Analysis of results
• Conclusions
• Where do we go from here?

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Teaching Java at Durham

• Cohort Level 1
• Compulsory for CS students
• Elective module for all other students
• . therefore varying background of knowledge
• and prior experiences
• 3 terms teaching 34hrs of lectures 34hrs of
  labs
• Objects first approach using BlueJ
• Semi-structured work blocks plus supporting and
  additional material
• Assessment via bench tests (2), unseen written
  exam

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The Threshold Concept

• A threshold concept can be considered as akin
  to a portal opening up 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.
• Meyer Land 2002

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Possible factors in achieving mastery
Learning History
Prior Knowledge
Subject Specific
Conceptions of learning
Learning outcome mastery
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Data Collection Methods used

• Questionnaires
• Student individual learning logs
• Individual interviews

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Analysis of results overview

• Programmers, Naturals, Copers, Stugglers,Jenkins
  2001
• Evidence of building on weak foundations
• Threshold concept a troublesome concept
• Other thresholds learning approach and context

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Analysis of results the interviews

• Interview factors
• Semi structured
• Time constraints
• Focus on 3 strugglers
• Indications of use of surface approach
• Indications of contextual factors
• Indications in 2 cases of change of approach

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Analysis of results approach

• Aim of practical work get it done and try to
  understand it but mainly finish it
• Workload No I think it usually is as bad as it
  seems, in the most negative way possible
• Learning activity when I actually do
  programming I make pages and pages of notes
• Tackling a problem going backfinding similar
  exercises that weve done earlierand trying to
  use bits of thatif there isnt one, get stuck

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Analysis of results context

• Conflicting demands/attractions
• Prior learning experiences
• In all the learning I did at school it would
  have been beneficial if Id understood things but
  I glossed through it
• So I pick it up, I read through part of it, then
  put it to one sideand try to write down every
  thing I know on it
• Learning environment

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Analysis of results change

• You cant just think right, Ill learn that in
  this line I put so and so equals so and so and
  put a semi-colon. You have to know why youre
  doing it.
• You have to understand it or you cant get past
  a certain level
• Ive never tried to do something and not be able
  to do it.
• Part of me thought oh god, I really want to do
  this

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Analysis of results change

• Thought maybe I should stop writing things down
  and just try to do it
• Printed outa lot of programsgot a highlighter
  pen and went throughand compared themand said
  right so this is something you do every time but
  this is something that changesand I was like
  right well wheres the bit in the program which
  defines whether its doing that
• I didnt do any other work that week I just did
  Java

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Conclusions

• Complex picture. Basic concept of software
  object and/or the mechanism of class declaration
  may be a threshold.
• Suggestion of other thresholds
• Motivation
• Conception of understanding in the context of
  programming
• A skill set that includes deep learning
  techniques

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What's next?

• Keep chewing
• Modify the learning environment
• Assist students with their motivation?
• Assist with conception of learning programming?
• Help extend learning skill set?