Action Poetry Needed
Reading the Overcoming barriers to student learning: threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge [1] on the heels of our first book How to Read a Book [2] certainly made reading and understanding of this book easier. By following the outlines of looking at the publishing data, table of contents, background of the contributors, index, foreword and editors preface and skimming of the chapters certainly helped provide a quick grasp of what the book was about. Subsequently, getting into the depth quickly provided me with a holistic understanding of the barriers, concepts and troublesome knowledge that Jan Meyers and Ray Land have so eloquently presented. This book is a seminal work on the ideas around learning challenges and education that truly transforms the learners. It provides a comprehensive framework that improves both teaching and learning.
I must confess this book exposed, to my delight, some of the phrases and words that I had not previously come across. The phrase ‘Action Poetry’ coined by David Perkins [3] of Harvard University is described as conceptual ideas that are both simple and memorable and at the same time which are also highly impactful and have a transformative effect. ‘Action poetry’ aptly describes the theoretical framework of threshold concepts. Some of the other words were ‘liminal’ and ‘disjunction’.
Meyer and Land in their article describe the foundational idea of threshold concepts as requiring students to grasp key ideas within a discipline before they move forward in their learning. These concepts are transformative because they change the way students think about a subject, irreversible because they are hard to “unlearn,” and integrative because they help students make connections across different aspects of their and other disciplines. Growing up in India, in the 1970s, I come from an educational background where the emphasis was on memorizing and not necessarily much in critical thinking. Till about 8th grade we got by just memorizing and regurgitating it in the tests. It was during the 11th and 12th grades and in college we started to connect things. Eventually, at the college both methods arrived at the same place. However, in the case of the memorizing method critical thinking and applications to real life scenarios were delayed by 5-6 years. Clearly, teaching students the foundational principles and applying them to real life situation is superior. However, care must be taken so that it doesn’t become troublesome as they disrupt prior knowledge or require students to adopt ways of thinking that they are not familiar with.
Glynis Cousins talks about the concept of liminal space. It is a transitional phase where students struggle with troublesome knowledge. They get a sense of being stuck and can lead to a feeling of being overwhelmed. This is the space where meaningful learning happens. Educators must provide a safe and nurturing environment where students can experiment and learn gradually in an iterative manner without trying to achieve perfection.
The book does an excellent job of presenting a framework for educators to help students navigate conceptual challenges and troublesome knowledge. This book was published in 2006. From 1970-2006 education platforms evolved gradually. However, from 2006-2025 the landscape of both educating and learning has changed dramatically, more so in the latter years. I feel it does not address the rapid changes brought about by technology. A good example is the push to online learning which accelerated during and after COVID-19. The shift to online instruction and learning has created both opportunities and challenges.
The book’s [4] over emphasis on conceptual challenges do not address the difficulties faced by learners from diverse communities and in particular the needs of the neurodiverse community. Neurodiverse individuals brains process information differently than most people. It is an umbrella term that describes a wide range of conditions, such as autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning disabilities, such as dys2lexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and dyspraxia, Tourette syndrome and others with sensory processing issues. Having been diagnosed with ADHD I can relate, at a personal level, to the frustrations that the neurodiverse individuals feel. To successfully address their learning needs one would have to develop individualized learning programs. One size fits all approaches are ineffective.
Finally, the widespread use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) would have an even more dramatic impact. Take for example, our own course DLGP 707. Using ChatGPT allows us to get information from a variety of different sources and from all over the world within minutes. The fact that, at present, they they may not be free of ‘hallucinations’ is a different issue. It has the potential to leverage the framework of the threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge to create individualized learning programs based on their level, learning style, cultural, socio-economic status and the type of neurodiversity. This would result in deep learning at a faster pace. AI can personalize learning and teaching. It can help students learn at their own pace, and can also help teachers save time by automating tasks.
Hopefully we will witness many more instances ‘action poetry’ in the rapidly evolving and AI infused world. I am very hopeful that it will allow the next generation of educators and students to get to synoptical learning at an even faster pace while effectively addressing the needs of the diverse communities. Online learning and use of Artificial Intelligence have already started revolutionizing the field of education and learning. It is heartening to see a number of initiatives across the board: from universities [5], [6], US department of Education [7], NGO’s [8] to private companies working in this area.
[1] Jan H.F. Meyer and Ray Land, eds. Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge. London: Routledge, 2006.
[2] Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren. How to Read a Book. Rev. and Updated ed. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972.
[3] Jan H.F. Meyer and Ray Land, eds. Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge. London: Routledge, 2006.
[4] Jan H.F. Meyer and Ray Land, eds. Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge. London: Routledge, 2006.
[5] Clair Chen, Stanford University, Human-centered AI, AI will transform Teaching and learning. Lets get it right. March 9, 2023
[6] Helen Crompton and Diane Burke, Artificial intelligence in higher education: the state of the field, International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education volume 20, Article number: 22 (2023)
[7] Miguel Cardona, Roberto Rodríguez and Kristina Ishmael, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning, US Department of Education, May 2023
[8] Asyia Kazmi, Can AI Transform Education to ensure all student benefit, Gates Foundation, September 11, 2024
About the Author
Mathews Manaloor
2 responses to “Action Poetry Needed”
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I’ll admit to you, our resident expert in all things AI, that I found many artifacts when using Copilot and ChatGPT (free) to flesh out my bibliography for the NPO research. However, you motivated me to ask my AI assistant for some examples of action poetry. That was a much more enjoyable and fruitful exercise!
Matthews, you are a genius. You got way more out of that book than I did. I am just being totally honest. I especially love that you appreciated the use of Perkins’s concept of Action Poetry. Perhaps we need to have a chat offline because it absolutely escaped me. I know what Action is. I know what Poetry is. Action Poetry is a concept that I am still scratching my head over.
I also appreciate your understanding of the learning styles often posited as disabilities, such as how “Neurodiverse individuals’ brains process information differently than most people. It is an umbrella term that describes a wide range of conditions, such as autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning disabilities such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and dyspraxia, Tourette syndrome, and others with sensory processing issues. Having been diagnosed with ADHD, I can relate, at a personal level, to the frustrations that neurodiverse individuals feel. To successfully address their learning needs, one would have to develop individualized learning programs. One-size-fits-all approaches are ineffective.” Great observation.