Threshold Concepts, LEGO SERIOUS PLAY and whole systems thinking: towards a combined methodology

This paper sets out a methodology for enhancing student and curriculum engagement with Threshold Concepts (Meyer and Land 2003; 2006) and associated notions of liminality (Land, R., Rattray, J., Vivian, P., 2014) across a range of disciplinary fields. The methodology builds closely on application techniques developed in LEGO SERIOUS PLAY, the evolution of which is informed by systemic views of, for example, organisational and strategic leadership, and systems theories such as Complex Adaptive Systems (Oliver and Roos, 2000). The paper illustrates how the authors have adapted the methodology for use in higher education settings and LEGO models can be mediating artefacts (Vygotsky, 1930/1978, Engestrom, 1999) for mapping the terrain of a discipline.