Drawing on a multiple-case, embedded design (Yin, 2018), I highlight the in-depth differences and similarities that exist across students' experiences in first-year composition (FYC), looking specifically at whether learners used genre and rhetorical situation as threshold concepts to transfer writing-related knowledge and skills across the…

Education debate often appears polarised between those who advocate a specific curriculum that should be "delivered" by teachers and those that advocate student-centred approaches that develop skills and understanding. This paper goes to the heart of the tension via an exploration of the "curriculum question." The purpose of…

This study presents curriculum mapping of noncore course offerings in political science curricula by an early-career librarian. It combines syllabi study and curriculum mapping methods to analyze the language of student learning objectives (SLOs) from course syllabi and to integrate SLOs with threshold concepts from the ACRL Framework for…

This design case is about Emotional Design Theory in application to the design of pandemic face masks. As we know designers rely strongly on theoretical knowledge in making design moves. To understand how students may learn to apply theory, research was conducted to test the effectiveness of an assessment called Design CUE (Conceptual…

Research on written communication shows that rhetorical knowledge is a key domain of disciplinary writing expertise (Gere et. al. 2019). Much of the recent work in this area has focused on the social dimensions of learning this knowledge. This article builds on these conversations with a presentation of two "advanced academic writers"…

By means of their pivotal role in the outbreak of a variety of diseases, such as, recently, COVID-19, the molecular aspects of cell membrane function have gained considerable attention from researchers in recent decades. The resulting information explosion and the growing interdisciplinary character of cell biology seems, however, to not be…

For a semester within a transition-to-proof course, mathematics majors explored two famous conjectures: The Twin Primes Conjecture and the Collatz Conjecture. Students were scaffolded into exploring the conjectures through directed activities but were also expected to create their own methods of exploration. We documented students' experiences…

We have created and validated a conceptual framework for the core physiology concept of "cell membrane." The conceptual framework is composed of 27 items arranged in a hierarchy that is, in some instances, four levels deep. We have validated it with input from faculty who teach at a wide variety of institutional types. All items making…

Mainstream transformative learning emphasizes personally significant learning and liberation from limited ways of being in the world. Reflecting humanistic and emancipatory philosophical commitments, this emphasis can make it difficult to appreciate the transformative potential of learning for and by knowledge, a type of transformation adults can…

News and media reports indicate that the perceived value of university education is declining amongst students -- one of the indicators being an increase in apprenticeships. As educators, we need to identify the reasons for this and ask ourselves whether we provide holistic education to students. Based on this rationale, this forward-looking and…

Learning about redox and electrochemistry in senior secondary school science has long been recognised as both impenetrable to many students and problematic for teachers. A significant barrier to understanding this area of learning has been the apparent exclusive use of implicit analogous definitions for the foundation concept of an oxidation…

In this article, the authors present the notion of perspective as a threshold concept in business communication. Using an SoTL framework, the researchers explore the effect of teaching threshold concepts in a summary writing assignment in a foundational business communication class. Working with a close reading methodology, the authors examine the…

In this article, we review research literature concerning number sense from several related fields. Whereas other authors have pointed to difficulty defining number sense or to some degree of inconsistency in the literature, we argue instead that this is a case of polysemy: three constructs given the same name. Our purpose is to clarify the…

The Fundamentals in Meteorology Inventory (FMI) concept inventory exam was recently developed to gauge understanding of fundamental meteorological concepts among introductory meteorology students. The exam was iteratively tested and refined over several years using a small sample of students. With a goal of evaluating the reliability and validity…

Motivational hands-on workshops for grade-school level future scientists are needed to inspire young and receptive minds. Described here is an educational event, titled "Inspiring Future Rocket Chemists", with hands-on laboratory exercises demonstrating the fundamentals of rocket flight and live chemistry demonstrations illustrating the…