«Пороговые понятия» в образовании: систематический обзор педагогических практик

Отечественная и зарубежная педагогика. 2026. Т. 1. № 1. С. 5–21.

Lysova-Golomzina E.

Contemporary education faces a fundamental problem: students often acquire
factual knowledge but struggle to develop a systematic understanding of a discipline. This is
particularly relevant in the humanities, which require working with ambiguous concepts and
interdisciplinary connections. In this context, the concept of threshold concepts — key ideas
that transform and integrate subject matter — presents a systemic solution for structuring
academic disciplines.
This article provides a systematic review of approaches to defining threshold concepts in
international literature and compares them with analogous concepts in the Russian humanities.
To compile the international review, the OpenAlex database was used with a step-by-step
algorithm for searching and filtering sources, resulting in 21 unique articles. These articles
describe methodologies for identifying threshold concepts, outcomes of their implementation
in teaching practice, and key findings on their effects for both students and instructors. Russian
sources were analyzed using search tools from the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI).
Through comparison with domestic research, it is demonstrated that the unified framework
of threshold concepts focuses and structures pedagogical approaches for achieving deep
disciplinary understanding, which is a pressing objective for all levels of Russian education.
Thus, the theory of threshold concepts can become an operational framework for designing
curricula based on interdisciplinary connections and the attainment of both subject-specific
and meta-subject learning outcomes. In this sense, threshold concepts complement traditional
approaches of developmental education, such as the Elkonin — Davydov system.

Keywords: методика преподавания, школьное обучение, systematic review, threshold concepts, Russian School educational practicies, пороговые понятия, threshold concepts, межпредметность, реализация ФГОС, концептуальное обучение