📓 content/Transfer-of-Learning-from-a-Modern-Multidisciplinary-Perspective.md by @houshuang ☆

#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
    
    ⥅ [[https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/firescript-577a2.appspot.com/o/imgs%2Fapp%2Fstian%2FHJTHoJF3Is?alt=media&token=1cead3ee-39b2-4c88-8c98-df4ce3a849a1]]
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.