OxTalks will soon move to the new Halo platform and will become 'Oxford Events.' There will be a need for an OxTalks freeze. This was previously planned for Friday 14th November – a new date will be shared as soon as it is available (full details will be available on the Staff Gateway).
In the meantime, the OxTalks site will remain active and events will continue to be published.
If staff have any questions about the Oxford Events launch, please contact halo@digital.ox.ac.uk
This seminar explores the pedagogical potential of investigating secondary school science curricula through the lens of the Threshold Concept Framework (TCF). A cohort of trainee secondary school science teachers in England worked collaboratively to co-construct their understanding of threshold concepts in A-level sciences based on their individual perceptions and experiences. Themes emerged which I argue to be inter-disciplinary Threshold Epistemes, concepts that are not the difficult content areas identified as troublesome but constitute more abstract ideas which are fundamental to thinking as a scientist within and across sub-disciplines. These are ways of understanding, and/or systems of ideas. Threshold Epistemes identified and discussed are: models, scale, randomness and language. I also further argue that the process of engaging with the TCF as a theoretical framework has potential to be pedagogically productive for teachers and pupils.
