Problem 6
Ormrod
Transfer
- When something you learn in one situation affects how you learn or perform in another
situation
- Transfer is a regular part of life, it’s an essential part of human functioning
- Without transfer people would spend too much time on trial-and-error
- Most of school learning yields inert knowledge that students never use outside of class but
transfer should be a priority in instructional settings
Types of transfer
- Transfer can involve declarative knowledge & procedural knowledge or an interplay of
those two, declarative knowledge can help you recall declarative tidbits or vice versa
- Positive transfer:
o When learning in one situation facilitates learning or performance in another
situation
o E.g. practice in reading helps with spelling
o Meaningful learning and elaboration are instances of positive transfer too
o Old information can serve as a conceptual framework to which new material is
attached
- Negative transfer:
o When something learned in one situation hinders a person’s ability to learn or
perform a second situation
o E.g. people who learn new languages apply patterns of speech from their native
language giving them a foreign accent
o Typically causes trouble only in the early stages of learning, learners correct the
effects with experience
- Vertical transfer:
o A learner acquires knowledge or skills by building on more basic information or
procedures
o E.g. a child should master addition before moving on to multiplication
- Lateral transfer:
o When knowledge of one topic is helpful but not essential to learning a second one
o E.g. knowing Spanish isn’t essential for English but knowing it might help with
English because many words are similar
- Near transfer:
o Involves situations or problems that are similar. In both superficial characteristics
and underlying relationships
o E.g. a garage mechanic repairs an engine in a new model, but the design is almost
the same as the prior model
o Near transfer is more common than far transfer
- Far transfer:
o Involves situations that are similar in one or more underlying relationships but
different in their surface characteristics
, o E.g. a chess player might apply strategies to investment, politics etc.
- Specific transfer:
o Both near and far transfer are instances of specific transfer
o The original learning task and the transfer task overlap in some way
o E.g. knowing about human anatomy should help a veterinary student learn dog
anatomy because they are parallel
o Specific transfer is more common than general transfer
- General transfer:
o The original task and the transfer task are different both in content and structure
o E.g. knowledge of Latin helps a student learn physics
Theories of Transfer
- Formal of discipline
o Emphasizes the importance and likelihood of general transfer
o The idea that learning in one situation improves learning and performance in
another situation regardless of how different those situations are
o Mind-as-muscle idea: exercise muscles to develop strength
o General mental exercise might indeed have long-ranging transfer effects
- Early behaviorist theory: Thorndike
o Transfer only occurs to the extent that the original and transfer tasks have identical
elements
o 2 tasks involve some of the same specific stimulus – response associations
o E.g. high schoolers’ achievement in one subject correlates with another only when
the subjects are similar
- Later behaviorist theory: similarity of stimuli and responses
o Views on how transfer is affected by stimulus and response characteristics in both
the original and transfer situations
o When stimuli and responses are similar in the two situations, maximal positive
transfer will occur
o When stimuli are different and responses are similar, some positive transfer will
occur
o When stimuli are similar and responses are different, negative transfer will occur
- Information processing perspective: importance of retrieval
o Transfer can only occur when learners retrieve things they’ve previously learned
o Learners must have the both the current situation and relevant prior knowledge in
working memory at the same time to make the connections
o The low probability of retrieving, and the limited capacity of the working memory:
relevant information may not be transferred to situations
o The presence of retrieval cues influences information retrieved to working memory
- Contextual perspective: situated learning
o Associated with environments and experiences in which learning has taken place
o Situated learning is unlikely to result in transfer to very different contexts
Ormrod
Transfer
- When something you learn in one situation affects how you learn or perform in another
situation
- Transfer is a regular part of life, it’s an essential part of human functioning
- Without transfer people would spend too much time on trial-and-error
- Most of school learning yields inert knowledge that students never use outside of class but
transfer should be a priority in instructional settings
Types of transfer
- Transfer can involve declarative knowledge & procedural knowledge or an interplay of
those two, declarative knowledge can help you recall declarative tidbits or vice versa
- Positive transfer:
o When learning in one situation facilitates learning or performance in another
situation
o E.g. practice in reading helps with spelling
o Meaningful learning and elaboration are instances of positive transfer too
o Old information can serve as a conceptual framework to which new material is
attached
- Negative transfer:
o When something learned in one situation hinders a person’s ability to learn or
perform a second situation
o E.g. people who learn new languages apply patterns of speech from their native
language giving them a foreign accent
o Typically causes trouble only in the early stages of learning, learners correct the
effects with experience
- Vertical transfer:
o A learner acquires knowledge or skills by building on more basic information or
procedures
o E.g. a child should master addition before moving on to multiplication
- Lateral transfer:
o When knowledge of one topic is helpful but not essential to learning a second one
o E.g. knowing Spanish isn’t essential for English but knowing it might help with
English because many words are similar
- Near transfer:
o Involves situations or problems that are similar. In both superficial characteristics
and underlying relationships
o E.g. a garage mechanic repairs an engine in a new model, but the design is almost
the same as the prior model
o Near transfer is more common than far transfer
- Far transfer:
o Involves situations that are similar in one or more underlying relationships but
different in their surface characteristics
, o E.g. a chess player might apply strategies to investment, politics etc.
- Specific transfer:
o Both near and far transfer are instances of specific transfer
o The original learning task and the transfer task overlap in some way
o E.g. knowing about human anatomy should help a veterinary student learn dog
anatomy because they are parallel
o Specific transfer is more common than general transfer
- General transfer:
o The original task and the transfer task are different both in content and structure
o E.g. knowledge of Latin helps a student learn physics
Theories of Transfer
- Formal of discipline
o Emphasizes the importance and likelihood of general transfer
o The idea that learning in one situation improves learning and performance in
another situation regardless of how different those situations are
o Mind-as-muscle idea: exercise muscles to develop strength
o General mental exercise might indeed have long-ranging transfer effects
- Early behaviorist theory: Thorndike
o Transfer only occurs to the extent that the original and transfer tasks have identical
elements
o 2 tasks involve some of the same specific stimulus – response associations
o E.g. high schoolers’ achievement in one subject correlates with another only when
the subjects are similar
- Later behaviorist theory: similarity of stimuli and responses
o Views on how transfer is affected by stimulus and response characteristics in both
the original and transfer situations
o When stimuli and responses are similar in the two situations, maximal positive
transfer will occur
o When stimuli are different and responses are similar, some positive transfer will
occur
o When stimuli are similar and responses are different, negative transfer will occur
- Information processing perspective: importance of retrieval
o Transfer can only occur when learners retrieve things they’ve previously learned
o Learners must have the both the current situation and relevant prior knowledge in
working memory at the same time to make the connections
o The low probability of retrieving, and the limited capacity of the working memory:
relevant information may not be transferred to situations
o The presence of retrieval cues influences information retrieved to working memory
- Contextual perspective: situated learning
o Associated with environments and experiences in which learning has taken place
o Situated learning is unlikely to result in transfer to very different contexts
