Transfer

Throughout the chapter discussing transfer of skills and knowledge which taught me many things
that I didn’t know before. First is that extensive practice alone is not sufficient for effective transfer such
as rote memorization can lead to learning information with no meaningful connection causing it to fade
over time. I also didn’t know that there were different types of practice such as reflective and deliberate.
Reflective is developing automaticity but also it is important to understand the concept behind the
problem. Deliberate is when an individual has intrinsic motivation to do extensive long-term repetition to
learn or improve a new skill. It was interesting to know that today researches do not characterize transfer
as specific or general but instead investigate how transfer differs depending on content and extent to
which learning transfers from one situation to another.

1. Contrast the specific versus general view of transfer with the high road versus low road/low road view

a. General transfer is based on the doctrine of formal discipline which was the idea that Latin and
geometry improves an individual's general cognitive abilities which would transfer to other
disciplines. Later in the early 1900’s Edward Thorndike proved that there was no evidence to
actually support the general transfer belief.
b. Thorndike then created an alternative doctrine of formal discipline called the theory of identical
elements or specific transfer. Specific transfer is the belief that transfer will occur between two
learning tasks if the new skill or behavior contains elements that are identical to a skill or
behavior from the original task. Overall general transfer believes that understanding Latin and
geometry will aid in transferring to other abilities, while specific transfer believes that the two
tasks must of something in common with each other in order for transfer to occur.
c. Low-road transfer is when practiced skills are automatically transferred to another concept
because of the extensive practice in the skill in a variety of contexts. High-road doesn’t have
automaticity and instead is when the individual has to consciously apply a strategy or general
knowledge to a different situation.
2. Explain why high road transfer is more effective than low road transfer.

a. high -road is more effective than low-road because when the individual consciously the
knowledge learned previously to another concept because of the inclusion of mindful abstraction.
Mindful abstraction is retrieving meaningful information actively learned rather than the concept
just being memorization. High-road transfer allows an individual to have a greater understanding
of the concept or strategy to later effectively apply it to a different concept.
3. Identify four teaching principles that support transfer and explain how each does so.

a. Develop automaticity of skills- this leads to low road transfer and frees up cognitive resources for
use on higher level tasks.
b. Promote meaningful learning- allow students to form a strong interconnected knowledge of
concepts that is likely to transfer.
c. Teach metacognitive strategies- allow students to recognize high road transfer
d. Motivate students to value learning- influence students to process information deeply and to look
for ways to apply the knowledge learned to other topics.