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      Forging the jewels of the curriculum: Educational practice inspired by a thermodynamic model of threshold concepts

      Scott, Jonathan B.
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      Scott_ForgingTheJewelsOfTheCurriculum-WJE_2014-12-18.pdf
      Published version, 323.7Kb
      DOI
       10.15663/wje.v19i2.103
      Link
       edlinked.soe.waikato.ac.nz
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      Citation
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      Scott, J. B. (2014). Forging the jewels of the curriculum: Educational practice inspired by a thermodynamic model of threshold concepts. Waikato Journal of Education, 19(2), 115–121.
      Permanent Research Commons link: https://hdl.handle.net/10289/9040
      Abstract
      In this article a thermodynamic view of learning is taken. Internalisation of a threshold concept, the so-called act of “passing through the portal”, is viewed as a phase change. It is postulated that threshold concepts are associated with learning that both involves a large entropy change and that has competing possible learning outcomes. Through analogy with enthalpy of matter, it is predicted that certain learning activities will aid students, especially in the case of reaching true understanding of threshold concepts, much as certain physical processes aid the formation of diamond in preference to graphite.
      Date
      2014
      Type
      Journal Article
      Publisher
      University of Waikato, School of Education
      Rights
      This article is published in the Waikato Journal of Education. Used with permission.
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      • Science and Engineering Papers [3019]
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