Learning How to See Things Differently
When I was in high school, there was a popular series of books and posters called “Magic Eye.” The images look like a mesh of color at first glance, but if you view them in a specific way, a three-dimensional image emerges. I remember looking at them in frustration, trying to see these images my friends swore were there. My friends tried to explain to me the trick to seeing the images, but I could not seem to grasp it. Years later, I finally was able to figure it out for the first time and it was like magic to be able to see the image contained in within the colors. Once I learned the trick, I had no problem seeing the three-dimensional image in any Magic Eye image.
(Can you see the image contained in the colors? You have to look through the image in order to see it.)
Learning about Threshold Concept reminded me of these images. Meyer and Rand state, ‘A threshold concept can be considered as akin to a portal, opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something. It represents a transformed way of understanding, or interpreting, or viewing something without which the learner cannot progress.”[i] I could not progress, see the Magic Eye image, until I learned how to look at the image in the right way. It was, as Meyer and Rand would describe threshold concepts, a transformative experience. I finally understood what my friends tried so hard to explain to me.
One example of a threshold concept is that of “opportunity cost.” As a Business Economics major in college, my husband studied this concept and taught it to me. I would explain this as the idea that more goes into a decision than a bare cost analysis. Understanding opportunity cost is so ingrained in our thinking, that we cannot imagine deciding without it. For example, I started a Doctor of Ministry in 2016 but withdrew after completing two classes due to my mental health. When the time came to continue my doctoral work, it made more sense to switch programs even though I am starting over. I jokingly say that I came to Portland Seminary so that I can drink. In my previous program, we signed a statement saying we would not drink alcohol. My ministry context is in the middle of wine country and Silicone Valley. I have found that to not have a glass of wine with people is prohibitive to my ministry. The opportunity cost of my previous degree program was too great for my current ministry context.
In his TED Talk, Dr. Robert Coven discusses threshold concepts in education, stating that in the current education system, “Unfortunately, what you’ve lost is the essence of discovery.”[ii] Students do not know how to learn, only how to answer a question. They lack the ability to see things differently. He further comments, “Ultimately, we have to get away from the obvious solutions and move toward the confusion. To understand ultimately that questions are more important than answers. Answers are easy, you can look them up. Questions are really hard to come by. And once you’ve done that, you’ve gone through the threshold.”[iii] To understand the threshold concept is then like learning to see the Magic Eye image, it is looking at something in a different way, with a new perspective.
[i] Jan F.H. Meyer and Ray Land, eds., Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge. (New York, Routledge, 2006), pg. 3
[ii] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCPYSKSFky4 at 6:28
[iii] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCPYSKSFky4 at 17:18
About the Author
Becca Hald
Becca is an ordained Foursquare minister, serving as the Online Community Pastor at Shepherd's House Church. She has over twenty-five years of leadership experience both inside and outside the church. Becca has served her community in many capacities ranging from Administrative Assistant and Children’s Ministry Director to Secretary and President of multiple school organizations. She and her husband, Andrew have been married for over 25 years. They have two adult children, Drew and Evelyn. Her great passion is to equip others, to raise awareness about mental health, and to help reduce the negative stigma surrounding mental health issues. In her free time, she loves going to Disneyland, reading, sewing, and making cards.9 responses to “Learning How to See Things Differently”
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Even as I attempt to remember how to see the hidden imagine in a Magic Eye, your post reminds me that perhaps threshold concepts don’t always need to be taught using words or instructions, but that perhaps many of the threshold concepts we master are through experience in trial and error until something just kind of clicks.
I find that much of my learning comes through trial and error. With my sewing, for example, I make quite a few mistakes when learning a new pattern, but each mistake helps me learn something new. Just reading the pattern is not enough for me to be able to know what to do, it is the hands on approach, the physical aspect of sewing, where I learn the most.
Becca,
I have never been able to see the images in the Magic Eye pictures (thank you for including one in your blog)! This has always bummed me out! Why can’t I get it? Maybe I do not try long enough or I do not think the benefit of trying more than a few times is worth it. Maybe it will work for me some day. This is a good example of a threshold concept.
Thank you for quoting Dr. Coven. I like what he has to say about questions.
“Ultimately, we have to get away from the obvious solutions and move toward the confusion. To understand ultimately that questions are more important than answers. Answers are easy, you can look them up. Questions are really hard to come by. And once you’ve done that, you’ve gone through the threshold.”
I am curious what kind of questions you have come up with or been driven to in your research? I pray that your workshop will go well and many questions will be posed and answered.
I find “moving toward the confusion” is not always in my comfort zone. I know that is what I am experiencing in my research. I am hoping to continue to ask myself and be asked good questions to get me to where I need to be in pursuing a prototype.
It took me years to finally figure it out! I think by the time I did, they had faded into obscurity. As for what questions I am coming up with for my research, I love this design phase. There are so many different directions I could go, so narrowing my focus is key. I do think that one question would be how to move people across the threshold of accepting that many Mental Health struggles are real medical issue and not something that just needs to be “prayed out,” or you just need to “get over.”
Becca,
I thought it was quite brilliant of you to equate the opportunity cost of which doctoral program is a threshold concept. I would definitely agree.
I’m curious how you learned to ‘see’ the image the right way when it comes to the Magic Eye.
Audrey
I cannot remember what finally “clicked” for me with the Magic Eye images. I think it was someone describing how to look in a different way than I had previously heard. Which seems to fit with the way Dr. Coven describes threshold concepts in education, that many of the traditional methods which teachers use are not helping students to learn and we need to find a new way of teaching or imparting knowledge.
Becca,
Thank you for including the “Magic Eye” picture in your post… sometimes I can see them, but usually I cannot. This time, I can’t. It is discouraging. It feels like I am missing the “Dalmatian” in the video we watched.
That is exactly how I felt for so long being unable to see them. I find that I can see the image, but it takes effort for me to hold the image and it tires my eyes and gives me a headache if I try to do it for too long. It makes me wonder if my poor eyesight and astigmatism play a role in why I could not see them at first.
I CANT SEE THE IMAGE!!!!!!! I have spent so much time trying to do it, but I never have been able to so that doesn’t surprise me.
Teaching kids and adults to wonder is a hard task!
Asking questions can be tough!
I wonder… What was the last thing that send you down a rabbit hole of learning?