The challenge of discovering the threshold concepts of medical research areas: A bibliometrics-based approach

Santisteban‐Espejo, Antonio; Moral-Muñoz, José A.; Campos, Antonìo; Martín-Piedra, Miguel Ángel

doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2020.110099

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Other publications Commentary 4 [42][43][44][45] Conceptual analysis 3 32,33,46 Narrative review 1 53 Theoretical paper 1 57 Comment 1 34 Letter to the editor 1 35 3.4 | Ways of thinking (discipline conceptual change)…”

Section: Basic Conceptual Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Threshold concepts in medical education: A scoping review

Jones

Hammond

2022

Medical Education

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Introduction The threshold concept framework (TCF) was first described nearly 20 years ago, but its application in the field of medical education has recently seen a significant growth of interest with a diverse range of literature published on the subject. The transformative nature of threshold concepts (TCs) offers potential for the design of learning experiences and curricula across the medical education continuum. A scoping review was conducted to map the extent of the current literature regarding TCs in medical education—to describe the types of available evidence and its focus—and identify research gaps. Methods The review followed the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis approach for scoping reviews. Four databases and two additional websites were searched for articles exploring TCs in medical education. Data were analysed using quantitative and qualitative thematic approaches. A framework of conceptual change was used to synthesise the TCs identified. Results Thirty‐six papers, spanning undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing medical education, were included in the final analysis. The most frequent application of the TCF was in the identification of TCs, which related to basic scientific knowledge, ways of thinking and ways of practising in medicine. Uncertainty, patient care, clinical reasoning and professional identify formation were themes that emerged at multiple stages of training. Several papers evaluated the use of the TCF in teaching. Conclusion The understanding and embodiment of TCs increases in complexity across the medical education continuum, with TCs recurring with changes in clinical environment and responsibilities. This lends support to a holistic approach to curriculum design spanning all stages of training. Further research is needed to develop a consistent approach for describing and applying the TCF in medical education and to address how the TCF can be used in teaching and how threshold crossing can be measured.

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Section: Basic Conceptual Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Threshold concepts in medical education: A scoping review

Jones

Hammond

2022

Medical Education

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“…Nevertheless, the question of how to appropriately identify TC still remains unresolved (Barradell, 2013;Santisteban-Espejo et al, 2020). Attempts have been made to identify TC in clinical subjects as a pedagogical tool that may improve teaching in health sciences curricula; however, there is a lack of evidence regarding the identification of TC in the field of teaching histology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of the learning theories that situates the student as the central element in learning is Threshold Concepts (TC) theory (Meyer & Land, 2003 ), which has been a topic of increasing interest for the scientific community in the last decade (Santisteban‐Espejo et al, 2020 ). Threshold Concept theory considers education as a space of uncertainty, and proposes the existence of certain concepts or learning experiences that resemble conceptual gateways or portals that lead to a previously inaccessible way of thinking about something (Meyer & Land, 2003 , 2005 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The identification of specific TC within a discipline may thus be viewed as a relevant tool for focused curricular redesign, given that the teaching of these concepts can significantly improve students' learning (Entwistle, 2008 ). However, the identification of TC in health sciences currently constitutes a major challenge for higher education, because of the lack of a standardized, validated method for this purpose (Santisteban‐Espejo et al, 2020 ). Although TC have initially been identified by professors and staff scholars (Davies & Mangan, 2007 ; McKillop et al, 2014 ) students' perception may also play a key role in their identification, and students' perceptions are now increasingly used in the scientific community to identify TC (Clouder, 2005 ; Loertscher et al, 2014 ; Park, 2014 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Personal reflections using audio diaries and subsequent group discussion have also been used to identify TC in bioethics (Collett et al, 2017 ), and to understand students' experiences in medical professionalism (Neve et al, 2017 ). Nevertheless, the question of how to appropriately identify TC still remains unresolved (Barradell, 2013 ; Santisteban‐Espejo et al, 2020 ). Attempts have been made to identify TC in clinical subjects as a pedagogical tool that may improve teaching in health sciences curricula; however, there is a lack of evidence regarding the identification of TC in the field of teaching histology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Identification of histological threshold concepts in health sciences curricula: Students' perception

Martín-Piedra

Saavedra‐Casado

Santisteban‐Espejo

et al. 2022

Anatomical Sciences Ed

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Students' metacognitive skills and perceptions are considered important variables for high-quality learning. In this study, students' perceptions were used to identify histological threshold concepts (integrative, irreversible, transformative, and troublesome) in three health sciences curricula. A specific questionnaire was developed and validated to characterize students' perceptions of histological threshold concepts. A sample of 410 undergraduate students enrolled in the dentistry, medicine, and pharmacy degree programs participated in the study. Concepts assessed in the study were clustered to ten categories (factors) by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Concepts linked to tissue organization and tissue functional states received the highest scores from students in all degree programs, suggesting that the process of learning histology requires the integration of both static concepts related to the constituent elements of tissues and dynamic concepts such as stem cells as a tissue renewal substrate, or the euplasic, proplasic and retroplasic states of tissues. The complexity of integrating static and dynamic concepts may pose a challenging barrier to the comprehension of histology. In addition, several differences were detected among the students in different degree programs. Dentistry students more often perceived morphostructural concepts as threshold concepts, whereas medical students highlighted concepts related to two-dimensional microscopic identification. Lastly, pharmacy students identified concepts related to tissue general activity as critical for the comprehension and learning of histology. The identification of threshold concepts through students' perceptions is potentially useful to improve the teaching and learning process in health sciences curricula.

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Threshold concepts in health professions education research: a scoping review

Liljedahl

Palmgren

McGrath

2022

Adv in Health Sci Educ

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Threshold concepts (TCs) are increasingly used in health professions education (HPE) research. TCs are claimed to be conceptual gateways which are often traversed with substantial difficulty. In this paper, we report on a scoping review investigating the following research question: What is the scope and nature of the currently available research on threshold concepts in health professions education literature? We employed Arksey and O’Malley’s model for scoping reviews. A search for literature on TCs in HPE research between 2003 and 2020 yielded 999 records of which 59 were included in the review. The data set was subject to quantitative descriptive analysis of article characteristics as well as qualitative thematic analysis of the scope of research on TCs. Among the 59 articles selected for review, there were 30 empirical, 26 conceptual and three reviews. A majority were published in 2015 or later. Almost half of the included articles attempted to identify possible TCs within HPE. Others investigated how TCs can be traversed or suggested how TCs could influence curriculum design. Some critically appraised the framework of TC. Although TCs are increasingly utilised in HPE, the present review identified how researchers came across methodological challenges related to identifying possible TCs and definitional challenges around identifying the essential characteristics of TCs. Before embracing TCs as the next go-to theory for learning in HPE, we acknowledge the need for methodological stringeny and rigour as well as more data to support TCs. Until then, any implementation of TCs in HPE curricula should be done cautiously.

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The challenge of discovering the threshold concepts of medical research areas: A bibliometrics-based approach

Cited by 5 publications

References 35 publications

Threshold concepts in medical education: A scoping review

Threshold concepts in medical education: A scoping review

Identification of histological threshold concepts in health sciences curricula: Students' perception

Threshold concepts in health professions education research: a scoping review

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