How People Learn – Chapter3. Learning and Transfer

1.Early research on the transfer of learning was guided by theories that emphasized the similarity between conditions of learning and that of transfer (e.g. Thorndike, 1913). Such emphasis was primarily on drill and practice, excluding consideration of learner characteristics. Modern theories of learning and transfer not only retain the emphasis on practice (i.e. specify the kinds of practice that are important) but also take learners characteristics into account.

2.Key characteristics of learning and transfer that have important implications for education:
(1)Initial learning is necessary for transfer, and a considerable amount is known about the kinds of learning experiences that support transfer.
(2)Knowledge that is overly contextualized can reduce transfer; abstract representations of knowledge can help promote transfer.
(3)Transfer is best viewed as an active, dynamic process rather than a passive end-product of a particular set of learning experiences.
(4)All new learning involves transfer based on previous learning, and this fact has important implications for the design of instruction that helps students learn.

3.“Throwing Darts” studies (Scholckow and Judd, described in Judd, 1908; see a conceptual replication by Hendrickson and Schroeder, 1941) compares the effects of “learning a procedure” with “learning with understanding.” Because the students in the group that had been instructed about the abstract refraction of light principle understand what they were doing, they could adjust their behavior to the new tasks. Another example of learning with memory versus learning with understanding is about leaning the physical properties of veins and arteries.

4.Elements that promote initial learning:
(1)Understanding versus memorizing: transfer is affected by the degree to which people learn with understanding rather than merely memorize sets of facts or follow a fixed set of procedures.
(2)Time to learn: providing learners with enough time to: a) first grapple with specific information relevant to a topic, and b) to process information
(3)Beyond “time on task”:
-learning is most effective when people engage in “deliberate practice” that includes active monitoring (i.e. attempts to seek and use feedback about one’s progress) of one’s learning experiences (Ericsson et al., 1993)
-Understanding when, where, and why to use new knowledge can be enhanced through the use of “contrasting cases,” a concept from the field of perceptual learning (see, e.g., Gagné and Gibson, 1947; Garner, 1974; Gibson and Gibson, 1955).
-Transfer is enhanced by helping students see potential transfer implications of what they are learning (Anderson et al., 1996)
(4)Motivation to learn: motivation affects the amount of time that people are willing to devote to learning.
-Competence motivation & extrinsic & intrinsic motivation
-Challenges must be at the proper level of difficulty in order to be and to remain motivating.
-Social opportunities affect motivation: sense of contribution facilitates motivation
-Seeing the usefulness of what they are learning and using that information promote motivation

5.Factors that influence transfer:
(1)the degree of mastery of the original subject
(2)context
(3)problem representation
(4)relationships between learning and transfer condition
(5)active versus passive approaches to transfer
(6)transfer and metacognition

6.Learning as transfer from previous experiences:
(1)building on existing knowledge
(2)understanding conceptual change
(3)transfer and cultural practices

7.Transfer between school and everyday life: contrast between everyday settings and school environment:
(1)School environment places much more emphasis on individual work than most other environments.
(2)Everyday settings heavily use tools to solve problems
(3)Abstract reasoning is often emphasized in school, while contextualized reasoning is often used in everyday settings.