Edging towards understanding: Illuminating student experiences of liminality in introductory sociology

The chapter, "Edging towards understanding: Illuminating student experiences of liminality in introductory sociology" was written by Alison M. Thomas (Douglas College Faculty). This book had its beginnings on the edge of the North Atlantic Ocean, when international scholars from all over the globe met in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the 6th International Biennial Threshold Concepts Conference held over the three days of 15-17 June 2016."-- Preface. International Biennial Threshold Concepts Conference (6th : 2016 : Dalhousie University) Since the first literature about the Threshold Concepts Framework was published in 2003, a considerable body of educational research into this topic has grown internationally across a wide range of disciplines and professional fields. Successful negotiation of a threshold concept can be seen as crossing boundaries into new conceptual space, or as a portal opening up new and previously inaccessible ways of thinking about something. In this unfamiliar conceptual terrain, fresh insights and perceptions come into view, and access is gained to new discourses. This frequently entails encounters with 'troublesome knowledge', knowledge which provokes a liminal phase of transition in which new understandings must be integrated and, importantly, prior conceptions relinquished. There is often double trouble, in that letting go of a prevailing familiar view frequently involves a discomfiting change in the subjectivity of the learner. We become what we know. It is a space in which the learner might become 'stuck'. Threshold Concepts on the Edge, the fifth volume in a series on this subject, discusses the new directions of this research. Its six sections address issues that arise in relation to theoretical development, liminal space, ontological transformations, curriculum, interdisciplinarity and aspects of writing across learning thresholds"-- Provided by publisher.book chapterpublishe