Editing Threshold concept (section)

== Relation to Decoding the Disciplines ==
Threshold Concepts and [[Step 1 - Identify a Bottleneck to Learning|Step 1 Identify bottlenecks]] of ''Decoding the Disciplines'' both use theories of difficulty (Perkins, 2007) and focus on the hurdles of content. They both foreground the aspects of learning that prove consistently troublesome to uncover the tacit or “secret knowledge” of the discipline. Theories of difficulty design the challenge, but do not solve them. The main way the two theories differ is that ''Decoding the Disciplines'' from the start had a second theoretical component. Decoding Steps [[Step 3 - Modeling Mental Operations|3]]-[[Step 4: Give Students Practice and Feedback|4]]-[[Step 5 - Motivate and lessen resistance|5]]-[[Step 6 - Assess Student Mastery|6]] navigate the problem using pedagogical theory. These Steps organize teaching and learning processes for good results, scaffolding instructional techniques to foster learning (Perkins, 2007). “The great strength of decoding is the methodology that undergirds the theory…,” (p. 41, Shopkow & Middendorf, 2019).

In categorial terms every threshold concept is a bottleneck while not every bottleneck is a threshold concept.

Shopkow <ref>Shopkow, Leah (2010). “[[What ‘Decoding the Disciplines’ has to offer ‘Threshold Concepts]],’” in Threshold Concepts and Transformational Learning, ed. Jan H. F. Meyer, Ray Land, & Catherine Baillie (Rotterdam: Sense Publications), 317-32.</ref>. Threshold concepts are the paradigm-shifting kinds of bottlenecks (Middendorf, 2025).

Shopkow, L., & Middendorf, J. (2019). CAUTION! THEORIES AT PLAY! Threshold concepts and Decoding the Disciplines. In J.A Timmermans & R. Land (Eds.) ''Threshold concepts on the edge.'' Leiden: Brill/Sense, pp. 37-50.

Middendorf, J (2025 in press). The Theory Bottleneck and Decoding the Disciplines. Die Hoschudt

Perkins, D.  (2007). Theories of difficulty. In N. Entwistle, & P. Tomlinson (Eds.), ''Student learning and university teaching'' (pp. 31–48). Leicester: British Psychological Society.