Results from a study with Threshold Concepts in two chemical engineering undergraduate courses

A new study in peer presentation of Threshold Concepts as the focus of learning in two core chemical engineering undergraduate courses has shown that students benefit from an explanatory and illustrative presentation they give to their class peers in place of the traditional lecturer. The methodology was that the lecturer identified a (progressively linked) inventory of Threshold Concepts and had students critically prepare and then explain these in brief (3–5 min) presentation-and-question sessions to their cohort. The inventory was informed by Rowbottom's (2007) notion of looking for abilities for which a concept is necessary. The two courses were a level III core course on separations processing with 74 students and a level IV elective in specialist heat transfer with 15 students. Students welcomed and highly valued this type of learning with more than 90% agreeing that it improved understanding of the course material both because it revealed things better than their experiences in lectures and because it promoted a mental organisation of necessary course ideas. It is concluded that peer presentations of Threshold Concepts is a useful and economic instrument to overcoming traditional barriers to student learning. The findings could be readily applied to other courses in distinctive chemical engineering thinking and practise.