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Helping Learners Through Transitions: Threshold Concepts, Troublesome Knowledge and Threshold Capability Framework in Surgery

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Book cover Advancing Surgical Education

Part of the book series: Innovation and Change in Professional Education ((ICPE,volume 17))

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Overview

This chapter explores a constructivist theory that can inform the design of surgical education and training programs, especially to address areas of particular challenge. Threshold concepts, troublesome knowledge and threshold capability are introduced and illustrated in paediatric surgical training and transition to cardiothoracic surgical practice. Like other theories in this section, threshold concepts involve transformation of individuals’ ways of thinking, movement through a liminal state. This transformation is often associated with the development of a professional identity and represents an ontological shift in how the individual sees themselves and may reflect how others see them too. Learners can, however, sometimes find themselves in a stuck place where they can move neither forwards nor backwards. The ideas explored in this chapter may provide insights with which educators can help learners to move beyond their current state, to anticipate and plan for troublesome areas in learning, so that they can successfully navigate transitions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

    Simon Blackburn

  2. Department of Surgery (School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health), Monash University, Clayton, Australia

    Julian Smith

  3. Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences, Monash Institute for Health and Clinical Education, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

    Debra Nestel

  4. Faculty of Medicine Dentistry & Health Sciences, Department of Surgery, Melbourne Medical School, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

    Debra Nestel

Authors
  1. Simon Blackburn
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  2. Julian Smith
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  3. Debra Nestel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simon Blackburn .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences, Monash Institute for Health and Clinical Education, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia, Faculty of Medicine Dentistry & Health Sciences, Department of Surgery, Melbourne Medical School, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

    Debra Nestel

  2. Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Kirsten Dalrymple

  3. Department of Surgery, Louisiana State University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA

    John T. Paige

  4. Department of Surgery, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA, Jefferson Strategic Ventures, Jefferson Health, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Rajesh Aggarwal

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Blackburn, S., Smith, J., Nestel, D. (2019). Helping Learners Through Transitions: Threshold Concepts, Troublesome Knowledge and Threshold Capability Framework in Surgery. In: Nestel, D., Dalrymple, K., Paige, J., Aggarwal, R. (eds) Advancing Surgical Education. Innovation and Change in Professional Education, vol 17. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3128-2_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3128-2_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-3127-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-3128-2

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

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