Level Up Your Curriculum: Threshold Concepts Explained Through Gaming

Most teachers know that some topics act like “gateways.” Until students truly crack them, progress stalls. Educational research calls these threshold concepts (Meyer & Land, 2003) – transformative ideas that, once understood, change how learners see a subject forever.

But what does that feel like for a pupil? Let’s borrow an analogy from gaming.

Level 1: The Known World

Every game starts with a first level. Players learn the mechanics, practise skills, and explore the terrain. But they have no idea what Level 2 looks like – or even that it exists.

This is what classroom learning feels like before a threshold concept is grasped. Students are working within the boundaries of their current conceptual world.

The research: Threshold concepts are bounded and integrative – they define what’s “inside” a discipline and connect knowledge in new ways. Until students “level up,” their understanding remains fragmented (Cousin, 2006; Davies & Mangan, 2007).

Pause menu – self-check: In a game, players constantly glance at their health bar or inventory. In class, build in short reflections: What do I already know? What feels confusing? What strategy will I try next? Metacognitive planning sets learners up for the level ahead.

The Boss Battle: Troublesome Knowledge

To move on in a game, players face a “boss.” It’s difficult, even unfair at first. They may fail repeatedly. But with feedback, trial and error, and persistence, they overcome it.

Threshold concepts are like that. They are often troublesome (Perkins, 1999). They clash with prior misconceptions (“energy is used up”; “primary sources are true”), forcing learners into what Meyer & Land (2005) call a liminal space.

The research: Studies across biology, economics, history, and nursing confirm that pupils often oscillate in this liminal state – part-way between old and new understanding – before achieving transformation (Clouder, 2005; Walck-Shannon et al., 2019).

Stats screen – evaluate tactics: Gamers re-watch their failures: Why did that move not work? Should I change weapon or timing? Pupils benefit from the same reflective loop. Evidence from the EEF (2018) shows metacognitive self-monitoring adds up to seven months’ extra progress.

Level 2: A New Perspective

Beating the boss unlocks a whole new level. The world is richer, harder, and fundamentally different. Players never go back to Level 1 thinking.

This is what happens when a student crosses a threshold. Their understanding is irreversible and transformative – they now think like an insider in the subject (Meyer & Land, 2003).

Checkpoint – consolidate learning: In games, after levelling up you often unlock new skills and practise them in a safer environment before facing harder enemies. In class, ask pupils to summarise what changed in their thinking and apply it in a low-stakes context. Reflection cements the upgrade.

Designing the Curriculum Like a Game

So what does this mean for your planning? Here’s how the gaming lens helps us align curriculum, assessment, feedback, and adaptive teaching.

1. Map the Levels (Curriculum Planning)

• Identify the bosses: Use data, misconceptions in scripts, and teacher consensus to name 4–8 threshold concepts in your subject.

• Build the journey: Sequence prerequisites → gateway challenges → liminal supports → transfer tasks.

• Less is more: Prioritise depth over coverage. Research shows overloaded curricula fragment learning, while focusing on thresholds builds coherence (Cousin, 2006; Mitchell & Kramer, 2023).

Mini-map reflection: Pupils can sketch their “current map” of knowledge at the start of a unit, then update it as they progress. Like unlocking parts of a game map, this visualises growth and helps them evaluate their journey.

2. Scaffold the Boss Fight (Classroom Activities)

• Expect failure: Just as gamers retry, students need safe opportunities to struggle.

• Design liminal supports: Worked examples, think-alouds, multiple representations, and peer discussion.

• Fade the help: Avoid the expertise reversal effect (Kalyuga, 2007). Novices need scaffolds; experts need challenge.

Save point – reflect on progress: Regular “exit tickets” act like saving the game: pupils note what strategy worked, what still feels tough, and what they’ll try differently tomorrow.

3. XP Points and Level Unlocks (Assessment)

• Formative checkpoints: Quick probes to see if students are still stuck in liminality or have crossed the threshold.

• Transfer tasks: Assessment must demand application in new contexts – otherwise pupils may only “defeat the miniboss,” not the real one.

• Evidence of progression: Concept inventories and student explanations reveal when thinking has genuinely transformed (Walck-Shannon et al., 2019).

Progress bar – self-evaluation: Gamers track XP to see if they’re close to levelling up. Pupils can colour-code their confidence or annotate success criteria, building metacognitive awareness of how close they are to the threshold.

4. Adaptive Gameplay (Adaptive Teaching & Feedback)

• If the boss keeps winning, change strategy. Use formative data to adjust tomorrow’s plan – revisit, reteach with new analogies, or provide extra practice.

• Individual difficulty settings: Some students need extra scaffolding; others need faster fading. Adaptive teaching ensures everyone can progress (EEF, 2019).

• Feedback loops: Like game updates, your curriculum should patch weak spots. Department reviews of threshold concepts help refine teaching each year (Barradell, 2013).

Debug mode – reflect together: When the whole class struggles, pause for a group reflection: What’s making this tricky? Which strategies help? What should we try next? This metacognitive discussion guides tomorrow’s lesson design.

5. Unlocking Identity (The Player Becomes the Hero)

In games, levelling up changes not just what you can do, but who you are in the game world. Similarly, crossing a threshold reshapes a learner’s identity – they begin to “think like a historian,” “reason like a scientist,” or “act like a professional” (Clouder, 2005).

A crucial part of this transformation is evaluating their own learning. Research on metacognition shows that when learners plan, monitor, and reflect, they make on average seven months’ additional progress (EEF, 2018). In gaming terms, it’s the stats screen: reviewing which tactics worked, which failed, and how to adapt before the next battle. Encouraging pupils to pause and self-assess ensures the “level up” is not accidental but secure, integrated, and identity-shaping.

Final Thought

Curriculum planning is more than plotting topics; it’s designing the levels, bosses, and feedback loops that guide learners through transformation. Threshold concepts remind us that real progress isn’t about covering ground, but about levelling up.

So next time you’re planning, ask:

• What’s the “boss” my students need to defeat this term?

• How will I scaffold the fight?

• Where will pupils stop to check their “stats” and reflect?

• How will I know they’ve unlocked the next level?

Because the joy of teaching – like the joy of gaming – is watching learners unlock new worlds they didn’t even know existed.

📚 Reading Corner: Threshold Concepts & Curriculum Design

• Meyer, J. & Land, R. (2005). Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge. Higher Education, 49(3), 373–388.
  The original framework — explains why some ideas are transformative gateways in every subject.

• Cousin, G. (2006). An introduction to threshold concepts. Planet, 17(1), 4–5.
  A short, clear overview that coined the phrase “jewels in the curriculum.”

• Clouder, L. (2005). Caring as a threshold concept in health education. Teaching in Higher Education, 10(4), 505–517.
  Shows how a threshold concept can reshape professional identity — useful beyond healthcare.

• Walck-Shannon, E., Batzli, J., Pultorak, J., & Boehmer, H. (2019). Biological variation as a threshold concept: Can we measure threshold crossing? CBE—Life Sciences Education, 18(3), ar36.
  Practical study on how to spot when students truly “level up.”

• Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). (2018). Metacognition and self-regulated learning: Guidance report.
  Evidence on how reflection and self-evaluation help learners beat the “boss level.”