Kate Sanders
Jonas Boustedt
Robert McCartney
Carol Zander
ABSTRACT
Threshold concepts can be used to both organize disciplinary knowledge and explain why students have difficulties at certain points in the curriculum. Threshold concepts transform a student's view of the discipline; before being learned, they can block a student's progress.
In this paper, we propose that in computing, skills, in addition to concepts, can sometimes be thresholds. Some students report finding skills more difficult than concepts. We discuss some computing skills that may be thresholds and compare threshold skills and threshold concepts.
- C. von Aufschnaiter and S. von Aufschnaiter. University students' activities, thinking and learning during laboratory work. European Journal of Physics, 28(3):51--60, 2007.Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- J. B. Biggs and K. F. Collis. Evaluating the quality of learning: the SOLO taxonomy (structure of the observed learning outcome). Academic Press, New York, 1982.Google Scholar
- B. S. Bloom, editor. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: the Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain. Longman, New York, 1956.Google Scholar
- B. du Boulay. Some difficulties of learning to program. In E. Soloway and J. Spohrer, editors, Studying the Novice programmer, pages 283--299. Lawrence Erlbaum Associaties Inc., 1988.Google Scholar
- J. Boustedt, A. Eckerdal, R. McCartney, J. E. Moström, M. Ratcliffe, K. Sanders, and C. Zander. Threshold concepts in computer science: do they exist and are they useful? SIGCSE Bull., 39(1):504--508, 2007. Google ScholarDigital Library
- V. Braun and V. Clarke. Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3:77--101, 2006.Google ScholarCross Ref
- P. Davies. Threshold concepts: how can we recognise them? 2003. Paper presented at EARLI conference, Padova. http://www.staffs.ac.uk/schools/business/ iepr/docs/etcworkingpaper(1).doc (accessed 25 August 2006).Google Scholar
- J. Dewey. Science as subject-matter and as method. Science, 31(787):121--127, 1910.Google ScholarCross Ref
- C. Dörge. Competencies and skills: Filling old skins with new wine. In N. Reynolds and M. Tursanyi-Szabo, editors, Proceedings of the key competencies in the knowledge society: IFIP TC 3 International Conference, KCKS 2010, pages 78--89, 2010.Google ScholarCross Ref
- A. Eckerdal, R. McCartney, J. E. Moström, M. Ratcliffe, K. Sanders, and C. Zander. Putting threshold concepts into context in computer science education. In ITICSE '06, pages 103--107, Bologna, Italy, 2006. Google ScholarDigital Library
- A. Eckerdal, R. McCartney, J. E. Moström, M. Ratcliffe, and C. Zander. Categorizing student software designs: Methods, results, and implications. Computer Science Education, 16(3):197--209, September 2006.Google ScholarCross Ref
- A. Eckerdal, R. McCartney, J. E. Moström, K. Sanders, L. Thomas, and C. Zander. From Limen to Lumen: computing students in liminal spaces. In ICER '07: Proceedings of the third international workshop on Computing education research, pages 123--132, New York, NY, USA, 2007. ACM. Google ScholarDigital Library
- N. Entwistle. Concepts and conceptual frameworks underpinning the ETL project. Occasional Report 3 of the Enhancing Teaching-Learning Environments in Undergraduate Courses Project, School of Education, University of Edinburgh, March 2003, 2003.Google Scholar
- S. Fitzgerald, G. Lewandowski, R. McCauley, L. Murphy, B. Simon, L. Thomas, and C. Zander. Debugging: finding, fixing and flailing, a multi-institutional study of novice debuggers. Computer Science Education, 18(2):93--116, 2008.Google ScholarCross Ref
- M. T. Flanagan and J. Smith. From playing to understanding: the transformative potential of discourse versus syntax in learning to program. In R. Land, J. H. F. Meyer, and J. Smith, editors, Threshold Concepts Within the Disciplines, chapter 7, pages 91--104. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, 2008.Google Scholar
- J. P. A. M. Kessels and F. A. J. Korthagen. The relationship between theory and practice: Back to the classics. Educational Researcher, 25(3):17--22, 1996.Google ScholarCross Ref
- R. Lister, T. Clear, Simon, D. Bouvier, P. Carter, A. Eckerdal, J. Jackova', M. Lopez, R. McCartney, P. Robbins, O. Seppälä, and E. Thompson. Naturally occurring data as research instrument: analyzing examination responses to study the novice programmer. SIGCSE Bulletin, 41(4), 2009. Google ScholarDigital Library
- R. McCartney, J. Boustedt, A. Eckerdal, J. E. Moström, K. Sanders, L. Thomas, and C. Zander. Liminal spaces and learning computing. European Journal of Engineering Education, 34(4):383--391, 2009.Google ScholarCross Ref
- R. McCartney, A. Eckerdal, J. E. Moström, K. Sanders, and C. Zander. Successful students' strategies for getting unstuck. SIGCSE Bull., 39(3):156--160, September 2007. Google ScholarDigital Library
- R. McCormick. Conceptual and procedural knowledge. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 7(1--2):141--159, 1997.Google ScholarCross Ref
- M. McCracken, V. Almstrum, D. Diaz, M. Guzdial, D. Hagan, Y.-D. Kolikant, C. Laxer, L. Thomas, I. Utting, and T. Wilusz. A multi-national, multi-institutional study of assessment of programming skills of first-year cs students. SIGCSE Bulletin, 33(4):125--180, 2001. Google ScholarDigital Library
- J. Meyer and R. Land. Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge: Linkages to ways of thinking and practising within the disciplines. ETL Project Occasional Report 4, Universities of Edinburgh, Coventry, and Durham, 2003. http://www.ed.ac.uk/etl/docs/ETLreport4.pdf.Google Scholar
- J. H. Meyer and R. Land. Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (2): Epistemological considerations and a conceptual framework for teaching and learning. Higher Education, 49:373--388, 2005.Google ScholarCross Ref
- B. Molander. Kunskap i handling {Knowledge in Action; in Swedish}. DAIDALOS, 1996.Google Scholar
- National Capital Language Resource Center (NCLRC). The essentials of language teaching: Strategies for learning grammar. http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/grammar/stratgram.htm. Accessed March 13, 2012.Google Scholar
- D. A. Norman. The Design of Everyday Things. Doubleday, New York, 1990.Google Scholar
- Oxford English Dictionary Online. Oxford University Press, March 2012. http://0-www.oed.com.helin.uri.edu/ viewdictionaryentry/ Entry/ 180865 (accessed April 07, 2012).Google Scholar
- D. Perkins. The many faces of constructivism. Educational Leadership, 57(3):6--11, 1999.Google Scholar
- M. Polanyi. Tacit knowing: Its bearing on some problems of philosophy. Reviews of Modern Physics, 34(4):601--616, 1962.Google ScholarCross Ref
- G. Ryle. Knowing how and knowing that: The presidential address. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, New Series, 46:1--16, 1945.Google Scholar
- M. Séré. Towards renewed research questions from the outcomes of the european project Labwork in Science Education. Science Education, 86(5):624--644, 2002.Google Scholar
- L. S. Shulman. Theory, practice, and the education of professionals. The Elementary School Journal, 98(5):511--526, May 1998.Google ScholarCross Ref
- V. Sien and D. W. K. Chong. Threshold concepts in object-oriented modelling. In 7th Educators' Symposium@MODELS 2011 - Software Modeling in Education - Pre-Proceedings, pages 55--64, Carl von Ossietzky universität Oldenburg, 2011.Google Scholar
- S. Worsley, M. Bulmer, and M. O'Brien. Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge in a second-level mathematics course. In Symposium Proceedings: Visualisation and ConceptDevelopment, UniServe Science, pages 139--144, The University of Sydney, 2008. UniServe Science.Google Scholar
- C. Zander, J. Boustedt, A. Eckerdal, R. McCartney, J. E. Moström, M. Ratcliffe, and K. Sanders. Threshold concepts in computer science: a multi-national investigation. In R. Land, J. H. F. Meyer, and J. Smith, editors, Threshold Concepts Within the Disciplines, chapter 8, pages 105--118. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, 2008.Google Scholar
Index Terms
- Threshold concepts and threshold skills in computing
Recommendations
Threshold concepts in computing: past, present, and future
Koli Calling '16: Proceedings of the 16th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education ResearchIn this paper, we survey the work that has been done in threshold concepts in computing since they were first discussed in 2005: concepts that have been identified, methodologies used, and issues discussed. Based on this survey, we then identify some ...
Computing Teachers' Perspectives on Threshold Concepts: Functions and Procedural Abstraction
WiPSCE '17: Proceedings of the 12th Workshop on Primary and Secondary Computing EducationWith the introduction of the new computing curriculum in England, teachers are facing many challenges, among them the teaching of computer programming. Literature suggests that the conceptual understanding of this subject contributes to its difficulty ...
Reflections on threshold concepts in computer programming and beyond
Koli Calling '10: Proceedings of the 10th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education ResearchI comment on and extend prior work that searches for threshold concepts in computer programming. I argue that explicitly linking threshold concepts to Brunerian fundamental ideas gives structure to the ongoing debate on threshold concepts. Program ...
Comments