Threshold Concept: Pedagogical Innovations Based on Learning Sciences

This is the twentieth article in a series leading up to the National Summit on K-12 Competency-Based Education. We are focusing on four key areas: equity, quality, meeting students where they are, and policy. (Learn more about the Summit here.) We released a series of draft papers in early June to begin addressing these issues. This article is adapted from Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education. It is important to remember that all of these ideas can be further developed, revised, or combined – the papers are only a starting point for introducing these key issues and driving discussions at the Summit. We would love to hear your comments on which ideas are strong, which are wrong, and what might be missing.

Learning models should be rooted in the research about how students learn best (the learning sciences), with any redesign putting student success at the center. One way to to design a system based on learning sciences research is to consider how educators are engaged in teaching as inquiry where “inquiry is the state of identifying student learning problems, hypothesizing on causes, investigating and testing causal links, and acting on the findings to improve outcomes,” according to Dr. Linda Bendikson.¹

Using research and evidence as a foundation for ‘inquiry’ allows all levels of the system to engage in deep conversations around what is working in student learning and how educators are central to systemic improvement. It is important for educators to question how they are using an inquiry approach to improve culturally responsive teaching, as well.

In competency-based systems, we must engage in tough conversations around outdated pedagogical approaches. It is time to critically analyze how the current time-based models may be barriers to addressing learner needs. We should examine how we assess and determine whether our assessment strategies are consistent with the learning sciences research on how students learn best. In addition, we need to determine if our pedagogical approaches align with research on student motivation and meeting kids where they are at the appropriate level of readiness, whether the learning strategies employed are truly fit for purpose. We must ensure we are designing for equity using research on how students learn best, youth development theory, and evidence-based approaches.

Follow this blog series:

Equity

• Post #1 – CompetencyWorks Releases New Reports on Key Issues in Competency Education
• Post #2 – Introducing an Equity Framework for Competency Education
• Post #3 – Potential Pitfalls for Ensuring Equity in Competency-Based Systems
• Post #4 – Building a Comprehensive Set of Equity Strategies
• Post #5 – Charting the Course for Equity in Competency Education

Quality

• Post #6 – Three Driving Questions for Developing High-Quality Competency-Based Systems
• Post #7 – Exploring a Four-Part Quality Framework for Competency Education
• Post #8 – Nine Structural Domains of Competency Education, Part I
• Post #9 – Nine Structural Domains of Competency Education, Part II
• Post #10 – How Could We Build a Shared Understanding of Quality in Competency Education?
• Post #11 – Charting the Course for High Quality Personalized, Competency Education

Meeting Students Where They Are

• Post #12 – What Does It Mean to Meet Students Where They Are?
• Post #13 – How Do We Know Where Students Are?
• Post #14 – What Do We Do Once We Know Where Students Are?
• Post #15 – Meeting Students Where They Are: Navigating System Constraints?
• Post #16 – What Needs to Happen so that Schools Can Meet Students Where They Are?

Policy

• Post #17 – Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education
• Post #18 – Threshold Concept: Certifying Learning
• Post #19 – Threshold Concept: Assessment Literacy

Learn more:

• Download the reports here.
• Learn about the National Summit on K-12 Competency-Based Education, and share what you’re learning using #CBESummit17.
• For more resources and recommended reading, visit CompetencyWorks, the CompetencyWorks wiki.
• Follow CompetencyWorks and iNACOL on Twitter: @CompetencyWorks, @nacol.
• National Summit on K-12 Competency-Based Education Recommended Reading

Endnote

¹Linda Bendikson. Inquiry – A Much Abused Word. The University of Auckland Centre for Educational Leadership, September 2014. http://www.uacel.ac.nz/publications/articletype/articleview/articleid/292/inquiry–a-much-abused-word#.WQNbP1PysXo.