Threshold knowledge

Threshold knowledge is a term in the study of higher education used to describe core concepts that once understood, transform perception of a given subject or one can describe individual threshold concepts. The theory was introduced by Jan Meyer and Ray Land, who have published frequently on it. Meyer and Land also discuss the related idea of troublesome knowledge, ideas that appear alien or counter-intuitive.

These ideas have been explored by several subsequent researchers in a variety of disciplinary contexts. The theory has also been criticised.