Threshold Concepts ThroughEnactiveLearning: How Effective Are They in the Study of European Politics?

Abstract

Studying European Politics can be a challenge! And this is not surprising: even the best scholarly minds of European politics often struggle to give precise definition to such a young, but already so complex and constantly evolving polity as the European Union, and are increasingly at odds with identifying its prospects for survival. One way to achieve a better understanding of the subject is to utilize a threshold concept approach, which is essentially a “less is more” approach that chooses to work with a few “founding” concepts, and identifies a “road map” for independent learning of broader but essentially inter‐connected issues of the discipline. The threshold concept approach becomes even more effective if combined with enactive learning—that is, learning‐by‐doing, through role taking and simulation of the threshold concepts during seminars. Such learning evidently exceeds the boundaries of conventional knowledge and becomes a useful transferable investment for the future.

An Empirical Investigation of the Conception Focused Curriculum: The Importance of Introducing Undergraduate Business Statistics Students to the “Real World”

“…Concept‐based approaches in bio‐chemistry made students “think more deeply about the content and develop links between bio‐chemistry and other courses they were taking” (Rowland et al., , p. 277). Korosteleva () stated that teaching concepts of a European Politics course allowed students to develop knowledge and skills for investigating issues of interrelated concepts. As the CFC uses a concept‐based teaching approach, it is expected that a course that uses the CFC model will increase students’ deep learning.…”

“…A final goal of this research project was to determine whether a classroom using the CFC model could create students that are more globally aware and take a citizenship role associated with their learning. Concept‐based approaches allow educators to embed desirable concepts (ethics, sustainability, culture, global society, and corporate responsibility) into the curriculum by ensuring students integrate the concepts into their knowledge (Burch et al., , Hibbert & Cunliffe, ; Korosteleva, ). “When teachers deliberately assist learners in their concept formation through the analysis and clarification of concepts, learners are more likely to see the significance of concepts in the social world” (Milligan & Wood, ).…”

Managing the monsters of doubt: Liminality, threshold concepts and leadership learning

“…Although a relatively new concept within higher education (Meyer and Land, 2003Korosteleva, 2010), common threshold concepts have been identified in some management areas such as responsible management and reflexive practice (Hibbert and Cunliffe, forthcoming), economics (e.g. Shanahan and Meyer, 2006;Reimann and Jackson, 2006) and accountancy (e.g.…”

“…We explain why we have identified doubt and anxiety about many aspects of the learning process as symbolic liminal 'monsters' experienced by these students. We then relate this discussion to the notion of threshold concepts (Meyer and Land, 2003Korosteleva, 2010) -concepts which, once grasped, can facilitate the learning of 'troublesome knowledge' which can result in perspective transformation.…”

In Brussels: Teaching Policy-Making in the EU

“…Making sure the students grasp the fundamental dynamics of how EU bodies operate is one of the key objectives for those teaching EU studies. Increasingly, simulation and role-playing techniques are used to facilitate comprehension among the students approaching this subject (Korosteleva, 2010;Kaunert, 2009;Galatas, 2006;Zeff, 2003;Van Dyke et al, 2000;Dahl and Giacomello, 2000), to the point that it has become a 'Continent-wide' exercise (Jones, 2008).…”