Seeing through the lens of social justice: a threshold for engineering
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2009
In this paper, we have explored how students in a cross-disciplinary course on engineering and social
justice approached the idea of using social justice as a lens for looking at engineering. We have used an
adapted phenomenographic approach [Marton, F., and Booth, S., 1997. Learning and awareness. Mahwah:
Lawrence Erlbaum], together with Meyer and Land’s [Meyer, J.H.F., and Land, R., 2003. Threshold concepts
and troublesome knowledge: linkages to ways of thinking and practising within the disciplines. ETL
Project Occasional Report 4 [online]. Available from: http://www.tla.ed.ac.uk/etl/docs/ETLreport4.pdf
[Accessed 1 January 2009]] threshold concept framework, to study the variation present among the students
in the class as they attempt to pass through the threshold of this lens. Data were collected through
semi-structured interviews with students.We examine the liminal space that students hover in for several
weeks, not knowing whether or if they will eventually pass through the portal into new territories. We
found nine conceptions of increasing complexity present among the students in the class. We suggest
that the students’ collective experiences illustrate potential journeys along a spectrum of liminality and
through the threshold.We conclude with some implications for what can be done to facilitate the students’
transition through the threshold, thereby contributing to the development of this aspect of engineering
education.
social justice
threshold concepts
liminal space
phenomenography
variation