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Transfer
Transfer What is Transfer? Types of Transfer
Views on Transfer Behaviorism (Thorndike) Computational Theory of Mind Distributed Cognition (Packer)• Critiques of Transfer: Dewey, Lave1. What becomes of the person?2. What do schools do? What ought they do?
What is Transfer? Transfer is…
The application of knowledge learned in one setting or for one purpose to another setting and/or purpose … or…
The ability to extend what has been learned in one context to new contexts
Formal Schooling assumes that knowledge does transfer (that what students learn in classrooms will be useful beyond the school walls)
Assumptions about transfer accompany the belief that it’s better to broadly ‘educate’ people than simply ‘train’ them to perform particular tasks
Types of Transfer Vertical Transfer
Use of subskills in some larger skill. Skill of writing letters of the alphabet are useful
to writing words
Near transfer Transfer from one school task to a highly similar
task
Far Transfer Transfer from school subjects to non-school
subjects
Negative Transfer When experience with one set of events hurts
performance on later tasks.
Near Transfer Transfer from one school task to a highly similar task
Far Transfer Transfer from school subjects to non-school subjects
Activity
Do the problem set on the handout provided. Work individually.
Activity: Negative Transfer
practice problem
problems designed to establish a ‘set’
for solving problems in a
particular manner* *b-a-2c solution.
critical test problems
Group One
Group Two
Activity: Negative Transfer People in Group One
(E) were highly likely to use the Einstellung Solution on the critical problems even though it was less efficient.
People in Group Two (C) used more direct solutions
Prior experience can limit
people's abilities to function
efficiently in new settings.
Transfer
Transfer What is Transfer? Types of Transfer
Views on Transfer Behaviorism (Thorndike) Computational Theory of Mind Distributed Cognition (Packer)• Critiques of Transfer: Dewey, Lave1. What becomes of the person?2. What do schools do? What ought they do?
Behaviorist View
Claim. Transfer is facilitated by teaching knowledge & skills in school subjects that have elements identical to activities encountered in transfer context
Elements = specific facts & events
Emphasis on identical elements of tasks excluded consideration of any learner characteristics
when attention was directed whether relevant principles were extrapolated problem solving creativity motivation
Thorndike (1901) Tested doctrine of ‘formal discipline’
Practice by learning Latin & other difficult subjects has broad-based effects (such as developing general skills of learning & attention
Mind as ‘mental muscle’
Transfer
Transfer What is Transfer? Types of Transfer
Views on Transfer Behaviorism (Thorndike) Computational Theory of Mind Distributed Cognition (Packer)• Critiques of Transfer: Dewey, Lave1. What becomes of the person?2. What do schools do? What ought they do?
Computational Theory of Mind
Factors that influence successful transfer:
Degree of initial mastery of original subject Time on task (don’t underestimate!)
Chess masters 50-100k hours learning
roughly 50k chess patterns pattern recognition skills &
knowledge of their implications for future outcomes
Learner’s deliberate metacognitive monitoring of her initial learning
Context of initial learning: single context or multiple ones?
Contrasting cases / examples & non-examples ‘what if’ questions
Third Graders On one task, it took 15
seconds to integrate pictorial & verbal information.
With only 8 secs, they couldn’t mentally integrate info (working memory)
p.221 p.222
Computational Theory of Mind
Factors that influence successful transfer: Degree of abstraction of learner’s problem
representation
less abstract problem representation
more abstract problem representation
Computational Theory of MindFactors that influence successful transfer:
Degree of abstraction of learner’s problem representation
Abstracted representations become schemata
Knowledge representations built up thru many opportunities for observing similarities & differences across diverse events
Memory retrieval & transfer promoted by schemata because they derive from a broad scope of related instances (not single learning experiences)
Extent of conceptual understanding (rather than memorizing facts)
Conceptual Understandinge.g. Finding Area of a Figure
Understanding Method Focus on Structural Relations
Rote Method Memorize Formula
Findings on Transfer Only understanding group could: Transfer problem solving to
novel problems See which problems were
solvable/unsolvable
School vs. Everyday Life Ultimate goal of schooling = to help students transfer
what they have learned in school to everyday settings (home, community, workplace)
Transfer between tasks is a function of (among other things) the similarity between them
SO… an important strategy for enhancing transfer may be to better understand nonschool environments that students function in
Contrasts btwn School & Everyday Life School places way more emphasis on individual work In everyday life, we use tools to solve problems
(compared with ‘mental work’ of school) Abstract reasoning often emphasized in school,
whereas contextualized reasoning often used in everyday life
‘School should be less about preparation for life and more like life itself’ ~ John Dewey
We will stop here & continue tomorrow.
^_^
Transfer
Transfer What is Transfer? Types of Transfer
Views on Transfer Behaviorism (Thorndike) Computational Theory of Mind Distributed Cognition (Packer)• Critiques of Transfer: Dewey, Lave1. What becomes of the person?2. What do schools do? What ought they do?
Critique of Transfer: Dewey
Human activities with social dimension require a wider range of responses & the qualities that render someone ‘an effective competent member of a group’
Schools should be about “greater individualization on the one hand, and a broader community of interest on the other”
“The conception of education as a social process & function have no definite meaning until we define the kind of society we have in mind”
Rejected ‘mind as muscle’ notion When something general is learned,
it’s not ‘transfer’ but rather becoming skilled in activities ‘broad in scope’
They incorporate social relationships Weight training vs. playing a sport Flexibility, elasticity, ability to react to novel
& emergent circumstances
Critique of Transfer: Lave
Instead, there is no one ‘math’ or ‘english’ or _____ Proportional reasoning on a classroom worksheet Proportional reasoning in a grocery store isle
Whether two settings are the same (initial task, target task) is not a natural fact; rather, the product of social order
‘Matching game’: See the world my way! The right way!
Hence, no such thing as bringing ‘real world’ tasks into the classroom. They change b/c context changes.
Conceived of learners are motivated, concerned JPF (always in social relations & practical activities)
Rejected ‘functionalist’ conception of knowledge Knowledge as ‘tools’ for thinking Added to the ‘toolkit’ of the mind Transported from one situation to another
(w/out change) ‘Good’ knowledge = abstract,
decontextualized, scientific
Packer’s Two Big Questions First Big Issue
Cognition is situated. Different depending on context. Identity & learning only make sense in terms of some
community of practice We are all members of multiple (at times, conflicting)
communities of practice
UHOH…. What becomes of the person? Where does the unique person go?
Second Big Issue Transfer underlies our entire understanding of what
schools are, yet it’s a vexed issue (framed wrong way) Schools don’t provide ‘tools’ for our mental toolkit
UHOH…. Then what do schools do? What ought they do?
What becomes of the person? What’s ‘portable’ when a person shifts among
communities is “modes of acting and problem solving, not a system of rules & representations” Not schemas but how to actually do practices “A pre-reflective grasp of complex situations… the
ability to improvise”
Learning is … “the historical production, transformation, and
change of persons” ~ Lave & Wenger Learning is ‘a process of coming to be, of forging
identities in activity in the world” Issue of identity, not discrete facts
Learning is change in who someone is, not just what they know
(ontological, not just epistemological)
What becomes of the person?
What is this ‘change in identity’ like?1. The person is constructed2. In a social context3. Formed through practical activity4. Formed in relationships of recognition &
desire5. That can split the person6. Motivating search for identity
Every community splits, alienates its members So…people struggle for sense of continuity, for
self-sameness Identity: this grasp of who one is – one’s rights,
one’s obligations, one’s possibilities This search for continuity is the trajectory of
identity change
What do schools do?
• Contemporary school settings … Commodify learning Establish an exchange value of knowledge via testing Focus on acting on learner rather than increasing their
participation Equates progress with rationalization & abstraction And so reduce ethical/normative questions to technical
ones *cough Computational Theory of Mind cough*
Packer: We’ve got to do better than this!
What ought schools do?
“What’s required if children are to become adults who can negotiate the rapids of modern society is the fostering of a different attitude, one of appreciation of the complex, dynamic character of society, one of understanding that there will be conflicting interests and differing perspectives in any situation, perspectives that must be recognized and understood before the situation can be transformed, people’s differences reconciled, and the problem ‘solved.’” ~ Packer
x
ActivityPick one of the following & write down your reflections:
1) Packer argues that the process of identity change goes something like this:
1. The person is constructed2. In a social context3. Formed through practical activity4. Formed in relationships of recognition &
desire5. That can split the person6. Motivating search for identity
Is he right, based on your own experiences in the world? Why/not?
2) Dewey argues that the goal of learning is ‘to enhance a person’s life experiences. What, in your opinion ought to be the goal of education?
x
School versus Everyday Lifee.g. Cottage Cheese Problem