Transfer of learning is pervasive in our everyday life at work,
at home and in the community. Transfer takes place whenever our existing
knowledge, abilities and skills affect the learning or performance
of new tasks. But what are the principles of effective transfer of
learning?
Maurice
Taylor Planning
Workplace Education Programs
Teachers have tended
to assume that transfer of a concept from one context or environment
to another is "par for the course"; the reality lies far away
in a remote land where fairy stories come true! Learning algebra and
then assuming that this will empower students to make better decisions
is unfortunately baseless and some of our teaching practices assume
that transfer is a given right. It is time to address this critical
issue in light of the strategies discussed earlier.
So
what can we do to increase transfer?
Asking better questions
is certainly a start but there is more to it that using "high order
thinking skills". Without doubt transfer rests squarely on the
shoulders of a constructivist view of a child's learning, and while
this is not accepted by everyone and does have some limitations, constructivism
seems to presently provide us with the best model for how students create
understanding in their minds
Most researchers
use a variety of terms, but generally set up a continuum with
"research
on transfer of learning (for example, Druckman Bjork, 1994) consistently
concludes that the critical elements of training that promote
transfer to job performance are authentic practice in varied contexts,
with monitoring performance to identify, and feedback to correct,
misconceptions and faulty reasoning." Surgue http://www.svispi.org/networker/2002/0202a1.htm
Establishing links
between the known to the unknown. Building understanding.
|
Topic
|
Traditional
Contexts
|
Applying
Transfer Context
|
| The Romans |
Julius Caesar/Armies/development
of democracy/Elaborate Buildings/ persecution |
Possible lifestyles
of 12-15 year olds/ home/eating/sleeping/clothing/school/work/pastimes/dating/ |
| Space |
Planets/orbits/sizes/distances/galaxies |
Fables/Myths
to explain the unknown. Students to write their own fable/myth for
what happens to the ocean beyond the horizon. Students to do a compare
and contrast exercise between the earth and one other planet. Did
man really land on the moon (debate) |
| |
|
|
The process uses
the powerful tools of metaphor and analogy; the tools of the most effective
teachers.
What then is the
message here for educators when trying to teach students in a manner
that will facilitate transfer successfully?
We see three obvious
implications of this research:
1. The focus on
content retention needs to be shifted (not deleted), towards a
more balanced content/process ratio. In so doing the amount
of content presented and the expected retention rate will need to be
scaled down significantly.
2. The range of
applications and contexts within
which students work, needs to be more varied.
The source for these applications and new contexts should not be reinvented
by each school but should rather be sourced from existing appropriate
Web resources.
3. Teachers need
to be given considerable up-skilling in the
art of "good questioning" and appropriate resource
acquisition, thus eliminating the need for constant reinvention of the
wheel.
The
application in schools, of these three principles will enable teachers
to create much more powerful conceptual frameworks that can be appropriately
applied in new and unfamiliar contexts.
A
reference to an excellent article was posted recently on the "Leaders
NET" discussion list by Mark E. Brown (Senior Lecturer (New
Educational Technologies): Massey University; NZ) and we would encourage
teachers to read this paper. The paper is titled Literature
Review in Thinking Skills, Technology and Learning
http://www.nestafuturelab.org/reviews/ts01.htm
|
