Over the last two years in science we have worked hard on thinking about how we sequence our curriculum. In doing so we introduced a ‘spiral curriculum’ which splits topics up to ensure deliberate spacing and returning to topics to encourage retrieval and consolidation of each topic. Our next step was to then consider the content in each topic to ensure a logical order to the Learning Journey; coupled with our pedagogical work on ‘Making the Learning Stick’, we have seen improvement in student attainment and enthusiasm for science.
Initially our work on ensuring a coherent Learning Journey was based mainly on previous experience and expert subject knowledge. As we began exploring evidence that detailed ideas for teaching sequences we felt confident in many of our assertions and made few small adjustments as we learned of different rationales for sequencing learning.
Our next steps have been linked to our College Improvement Plan, and together we have begun to think more about how to build a more coherent curriculum between subjects. This has lead us to begin thinking more deeply about our curriculum in science, and consider a more robust rationale to justify our topic sequencing. A really effective guide for focusing our discussions in science has been the RADAAR framework developed by Niki Kaiser at the EEF. The elements of RADAAR have prompted us to explore a wide range of considerations in curriculum planning; some of these elements we had begun thinking about before and some were new. The RADAAR framework has helped us think about how we link all of these components together, including prior learning at KS2, potential misconceptions and retrieval practice.
This has also linked neatly with our whole school focus on thinking about Threshold Concepts. We have used these to give more in depth justifications for our topic and concept sequencing, and to really think collaboratively on whether some of the barriers to student understandings are rooted in the order we teach.
To begin with, we shared a definition of a threshold concept; based on the original research by Meyer and Land, who defined a threshold concept as a “portal” or “conceptual gateway”, that acts to build knowledge and understanding in a transformative, integrative and irreversible way. The concept is likely to be troublesome to learn too. Working within this remit we asked ourselves “What are the threshold concepts in biology/chemistry/physics?” Ensuring we justified our conclusions of what made it a threshold concept rather than a key/core concept. We next identified how students work towards these (in a state of liminality), and when they might cross each threshold.
Some of our most interesting conclusions to draw from this:
- When does a key/core concept become a threshold concept? In discussion it was clear that some concepts can be more troublesome or transformative than others. We had to decide whether every concept even those which are slightly transformative are a threshold concept or at what point a concept is a true ‘portal’ to cause irreversible change in understanding.
- The threshold concept might not occur during the time a student is at secondary school but they may enter a liminal state as we introduce some key concepts that are the building blocks of a threshold concept at A Level or beyond.
- Threshold concepts focused on factual knowledge and understanding were easier to identify, but it was more challenging to identify threshold concepts for practical skills.
Our discussions surrounding threshold concepts have spanned an entire term, and have served to greatly increase our awareness and understanding of our curriculum. For instance, the biologists have questioned the best order for teaching about cells; the chemists have explored and discussed the plethora of links there are between topics to support schema building in chemistry; and the physicists have given consideration to how a topic such as waves at secondary level is perhaps fundamental knowledge that helps build towards threshold concepts met at A Level.
Throughout our discussions we have grappled with the interpretation of what a threshold concept is, and how to differentiate from a key concept, especially when there appear to be ‘levels’ of concept within these definitions, and as such, it probably helps explain why there is no definitive list of the threshold concepts for each subject area. Our lists we have created are by no means exhaustive, an most definitely not a checklist to work through. We see them as a tool to help us in our next stages of developing ourselves professionally to have a deeper understanding of our curriculum and the links within and beyond science.
The next phase of our thinking is going to be creating a threshold concept map of the links between the three science specialisms to enable us to better sequence our curriculum and ensure we are building knowledge, and in turn, science schema in a coherent manner. We will then plan how we can record our thinking and curriculum understanding in a way that supports non-specialists and new staff in picking up and teaching less familiar science; the RADAAR framework is again proving invaluable in helping us design our planning tool that brings each strand of our thinking together: The Learning Journey, Threshold Concepts, Age-related expectations, Learning Goals and Success Criteria, assessment strategy, retrieval practice and subject knowledge and misconceptions.
References
EEF Improving Secondary Science Report https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/tools/guidance-reports/improving-secondary-science/
EEF RADAAR Framework https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/eef-blog-introducing-new-resources-for-sorting-out-scientific-misconceptions/
Meyer and Land, 2003, Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to Ways of Thinking and Practising within the Disciplines http://www.etl.tla.ed.ac.uk/docs/ETLreport4.pdf (accessed March 2021)
Cousin, 2006, An Introduction to Threshold Concepts https://www.ee.ucl.ac.uk/~mflanaga/Cousin%20Planet%2017.pdf (accessed March 2021)
Talanquer, 2015, Threshold Concepts in Chemistry: The Critical Role of Implicit
Schemas https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ed500679k (accessed March 2021)
Park, 2015, Impact of Teachers’ Overcoming Experience of Threshold Concepts in Chemistry on Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) Development. https://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO201530848423866.pdf (accessed March 2021)
Chandler-Grevatt, 2015, Challenging Concepts in Chemistry https://edu.rsc.org/feature/challenging-concepts-in-chemistry/2000069.article (accessed March 2021)
Extensive index on Threshold Concepts: https://www.ee.ucl.ac.uk/~mflanaga/thresholds.html
Educating Melon 