Workshop Discussions

In order to engage the tertiary teaching community in discussions about threshold concepts in biology and in particular the Biology Thresholds Matrix we ran a number of workshops in Sydney and interstate. During the workshops, participants were split into groups and held discussions based on the questionnaire provided.
A very different dynamic developed in each workshop, depending on the mix of participants and on their prior expectations. Some workshop sessions focused on bringing together members from a wide range of biological disciplines areas, while others focused on extending ongoing curriculum reviews for discrete biology departments.
Summaries of the discussions that took place at these workshops are included below.

Sydney University – 17 April 2009

• Cellular Processes
• Ecology and Evolution
• Genetics
• Non-Biologists
• Protein Synthesis
• Open Discussion

University of Queensland – 9 November 2009

• Homeostasis
• Sub-cellular/microscopic
• General Discussion

RMIT Bundoora campus – 19 November 2009

• Homeostasis
• Concentration
• General Discussion

University of Adelaide – 3 December 2009

• Predictive Reasoning
• Energy

University of Western Australia – 9 April 2010

• Scale