This paper is quite a bit different than the others we have been asked write this quarter. When you are reading my paper I would like you thoughts on the following and anything else that you see that I need to change for my final draft.
After reading my paper do you think that my threshold concept exists?
Do I describe the way I understood Rousseau before and after my threshold concept well? Is it clear to what I am describing?
What do you think about the way I use the blog posts to support of the inert knowledge that exists in the political science course?
Does my intro set up my essay well?
Emmett Egger
Paige Morgan
ENGL 298
30 November 2011
MP3 Rough Draft
A threshold concept is when one is able to wrap their mind around an idea that leads to a new understanding. This new awareness was not attainable before the new found apprehension of the threshold concept. According to Meyer and Land, threshold concepts are represented by what Perkins calls troublesome knowledge. Perkins describes this type of knowledge as information that is tough to process or difficult to understand. A form of troublesome knowledge is inert knowledge, which can be described as a difficulty in making connections between trying topics. During this quarter I struggled to make such connections. My threshold concept was when I was able to make the link between the difficult topics. Once I interlinked the problematic information, I saw how they were related to each other. This threshold concept that I came upon positively transformed my understanding of Jean Jacques Rousseau’s political theory.
It is difficult for one to take troublesome knowledge and reach a threshold concept. When learning we often come across problematic material, which is tough to understand and the first time through it may seem incoherent. Many students being taught within a subject discipline never come to a new awareness and are plagued with the same troublesome knowledge. Meyer and Land describe multiple forms of troublesome knowledge. Inert knowledge is one of the models that they explain. According to Perkins , “Students learn techniques…but fail to connect them to everyday applications…”(Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to ways of thinking and Practising with the Disciplines, 6). In this passage we see that Perkins considers inert knowledge to be when students are unable to make connections with the information they acquire. They view each theory separately and do not see the relationship between the theories. Students fail to make this connection in various subject disciplines. The political science class this quarter introduced a variety of theorists. For the quizzes and the exams in this class we were asked to produce definitions of the major ideas found in their theories. Throughout the quarter I related these prevalent concepts and separate definitions and failed to relate them. Due to this inert knowledge, I failed to have an exceptional understanding of what message the political theorist were trying to convey. My apprehension of the material taught in this class can be related to memorizing vocabulary words. Perkins conveys inert knowledge as follows, “…sits in the mind’s attic, unpacked only when specifically called for by a quiz or direct prompt but otherwise gathering dust”(Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to ways of thinking and Practising with the Disciplines, 6). When I made the connection between the ideas, I was able to view the political theory taught in class through a different lens. After reaching this threshold concept I understood the material to a greater degree. I no longer had to memorize the definitions, because I saw the theories as a whole. This new awareness allowed me to infer the multitude of proper definitions required to learn in each of the theorists text.
After my threshold concept, my understanding of Rousseau’s political theory was much different. Before I acquired this new awareness of knowledge his political theory to me was like a puzzle, but I did not know how to put the pieces together. I knew that once I put the pieces together, I would have an understanding of what he considered to be the origin of inequality. I saw his ideas broken up into three pieces. The three piece were the state of nature part one, the state of nature part two and leaving the state of nature. I began to study these three parts, but it was difficult to understand. Each of the pieces seemed foreign to each other and I could not identify the flow of his ideas. In the state of nature part one man lived a simple and solitary life with only two passions which are compassion and self preservation. The second part of his state of nature consists of man starting to group together. Out of those small dwellings the idea of property arises and essentially property made the state of nature evolve into a state of war. Thirdly, he theorizes that man leaves government is man’s way out of the second part of his state of nature and government is created by the strong to benefit the strong and put new fetters on the weak. In short this is how I viewed the three parts of his theory before my threshold concept. After my threshold concept I saw able to put together the three pieces of his theory. Once I put the puzzle together I understood the property was the origin of inequality and government legitimized and protected property. The inert knowledge that was so troublesome to me seemed to have vanished and I could not believe that I did not see the connection before. The information was tough to connect at first, because I was looking for definitions. Due to that I viewed his theory only as type of dictionary, but when I took a step back and tried to discover what he considered the origin of inequality I reached my threshold concept. After comprehending this I was able to see the reason why he described the two parts of the state of nature and why people leave the state of nature and form government. Meyer and Land state, “Integration is troublesome because you need to acquire the bits before you can integrate, but once you you’ve got the bits you need to be persuaded to see them in a different way” (Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to ways of thinking and Practising with the Disciplines, 6). This quote is an explanation of the process I went through to reach my threshold concept.
Throughout the quarter the students in the English class have been posting blog posts. In these posts we can see examples of other students struggling with the inert knowledge. I had trouble connecting the bits of information together and seeing the big picture and in the following passage from a blog post we can see a student focusing on the a part of the John Locke’s political theory. The blog states, “He[Locke] believes that by using your own body, and contributing your own labor, that would be justification enough to obligate yourself to that which you worked for” (Hobble, Nicole, “Paraphrasing Locke”. week6blog. November 2, 2011. December 5, 2011). This blog post shows us that the author is working with a Locke’s theory of property, which is a very specific part of his theory. Although, the author of the blog continues to describe this aspect of Locke’s theory in more detail and provides quotes to back up the claims made. There is no connection made to why Locke describes private property in his political theory. By just reading the blog one can interpret that the author had an understanding of the parts of Locke’s political theory, but did not know how they connected with each other. In this blog the author failed to interlink Locke’s thoughts on property and how that is related to what he considers to be a legitimate political authority. Making this connection is not an easy one to make. It takes hours of studying and class before one starts to see how property is related to the big picture of Locke’s theory.
This paper was written with the hope that other students can have insight on troublesome knowledge and threshold concepts in political theory. If students have a better understanding of what a threshold concept is they may be to reach that threshold in a quicker and easier fashion than without. In the intro to political theory class it is very easy for students to focus on defining parts of theorists ideas. It is important that as a student in this class that you take time to try and put the pieces together and solve the puzzle that the theorist pose in there work. Before my threshold concept the task of memorizing definitions was daunting especially as the more theories were introduced as the quarter went on. After my threshold concept the task was no longer daunting, because I viewed each theory as one interlinked chain rather than a multitude of individual links. The threshold concept that I reached this quarter in the political science can be found out of inert knowledge which is troublesome.
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