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title: "Transfer of Learning from a Modern Multidisciplinary Perspective"
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- #public
- published 2005
- by **Jose P. Mestre**
- reading log
- **April 15th, 2020** until Historical Theories
- **April 16th, 2020** Trying to do 20 minutes, arrived at Chapter 5, p xxi
- Introduction
- Transfer is a term that describes a situation where information learned at one point in time influences performance on information encountered at a later point in time.
- **Harald Høffding** (1892)
- learning event `A`
- stored internal representation when learned `a`
- internal representation of response to learned event `b`
- observable response `B`
- chain `A-a-b-B`
- event `A` triggers `a` leads to `B`
- what if you encounter `A'`? Will it still trigger `a`? How likely?
- Isn't it also about how `b` can be applied in a different way to a slightly different problem? You wouldn't want an identical response? #q
- Ideal
- one learned event facilitates further learning
- extend the range of events to which learned material can be applied
- **Types of transfer**
- **Specific transfer**, **Near transfer** and **Literal Transfer** are similar
- [[**Lateral Transfer** and **Vertical Transfer** distinction]] made by **Robert M. Gagné**
- **Lateral Transfer**
- skill or knowledge influences more complex skill or knowledge later - precursor
- instruction should be arranged to take advantage of hierarchical structure of knowledge to be learnt
- part of movement of
- **task analysis**
- begin with [[terminal **learning goals**]]
- move backwards until you encountered **entering behaviours**
- skills students had acquired before entering school
- **mastery learning**
- **Vertical Transfer**
- "generalization that spreads over a broad set of situations at roughly the same level of complexity"n
- not well defined
- [[**Specific transfer** and **Nonspecific transfer** distinction]]
- **Specific transfer**
- clear similarity between stimulus complex in situation A and B
- **Nonspecific transfer**
- no obvious relationship, but acquisition of one influences the acquisition of the other
- for example **learning to learn** (monkey experiments)
- poorly defined
- [[**Near transfer** and **Far transfer** distinction]]
- Introduced by **Richard E. Mayer**
- level of similarity between conditions of original learning and in transfer learning (how is this different from **Specific transfer**?)
- **James M. Royer**
- **school-learned events** and **out-of-school events** - applying something learnt at school in an out-of-school context is far transfer
- very difficult to define
- early thought: the far extreme of **stimulus generalization gradient** that will still activate a learned response
- category of real-world problems that could be solved through use of a mathematical operation like multiplication
- [[**Literal Transfer** and **Figural Transfer** distinction]] by **James M. Royer**
- **Literal Transfer**
- application of an intact bit of knowledge to a new learning event
- example: calculating the area of a rectangle can be applied to determining size of a rug for a room
- **Figural Transfer**
- involving application of a segment of **world knowledge** as a tool for thinking about or learning about a new problem
- **Metaphors** like "Encyclopaedias are gold mines"
- definition by example, and not very clear
- **Actor-oriented transfer**
- 
- First chapter by **Daniel Schwartz**, **John Bransford** and **David Sears**
- classic views of transfer measures transfer in ways that make people look dumb
- measure what is "transferred out" (whether people directly apply what they learned in one context to another), and not what is "transferred in"
- follow "sequestered problem-solving" paradigm, participants tested isolated from "contaminating" influences of information (colleagues, text, electronic resources)
- propose expanded definition of transfer: preparation for future learning (things you learnt help you learn new things more effectively) pro-pedeutic?
- transfer is not as rare as previously assumed
- two-dimensional space of innovation and efficiency
- Second chapter by **Christopher Wolfe**, **Valerie Reyna**, **Charles Brainerd**
- implications of **fuzzy trace theory** for transfer
- **dual-process** [[theory of **memory**]]
- explain surprising findings about relation between memory and cognitive processes
- two independent **memory systems**
- formed in parallel, but encoded and stored separately
- gist
- used to reason and problem solve
- nebulous patterns
- underlying meanings and patterns
- **more important for transfer**
- verbatim
- used to answer questions about literal representations of knowledgesur
- face details
- Third chapter by **David Hammer**, **Andrew Elby**, **Rachel Scherr** and **Edward Redish**
- transfer as a concept is not useful.
- traditionally describes knowledge as unitary entity - learn in one context and apply in another
- propose a **manifold ontology**
- fine-grained resources that may or may not be activated by an individual in response to a context
- **learning** is a cognitive state in which several resources in the student's memory are activated and applied to deal with context under consideration
- not as acquisition or formation of a cognitive object
- Fourth chapter by **Andrea diSessa** and **Joseph Wagner**
- view of knowledge as a complex system containing many kinds of elements and structures
- perspective of **coordination classes**
- a model of concepts as complex systems, and the principal function of the concept/system is to allow people read specific kinds of information out of situations in the world
- possessing a scientific concept and applying it flexibly means
- ability to coordinate large numbers of knowledge elements in various ways that accommodate wide range of contexts over which concept is applicable
- measure of transfer
- ability to apply knowledge flexibly across varying contexts
- **Types of transfer**
- **Expert-like transfer**
- ability to compile appropriate knowledge reliably for application in specific contexts (**concept projections**)
- Novices **concept projections** are extremely sensitive to context, and often result in unsuccessful performance.
- Necessary research
- Investigations that assess not just performance, but type of knowledge used by novices in early work in domain they are learning.