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Do We Readily Transfer What We Learn?

The Success of Low-road Transfer

The Problem of High-road Transfer

What Is Transfer and Why Is It Important?

Speci

ﬁc Versus General Transfer

Low-road Versus High-road Transfer

Transfer of Skills and Knowledge

Outline Learning Goals

Contrast the speci

ﬁc versus general view of transfer with the high-road versus low-road view.

Explain why high-road transfer is more dif

ﬁcult to achieve than low-road transfer.

Teaching Principles That Facilitate Transfer

Develop Automaticity of Skills

Promote Meaningful Learning

Teach Metacognitive Strategies

Motivate Students to Value Learning

Identify four teaching principles that support transfer, and explain how each facilitates transfer.

Summary Key Concepts Case Studies: Re

ﬂect and Evaluate

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Low-road Transfer.
Acquiring automaticity at ice skating enables low-road transfer to the sport of
in-line skating, allowing these teammates to practice playing hockey during
warm weather.

WHAT IS TRANSFER AND WHY IS IT
IMPORTANT?

As teachers, we would all like our students to take what they have
learned in our classrooms and ﬁnd ways to apply that knowledge in
other courses and in other contexts of their lives—that is, to transfer
their learning. But the transfer of skills and knowledge is easier said
than done. Researchers have found it difﬁcult to demonstrate that we
spontaneously and successfully transfer our learning from
instructional situations to other contexts (Haskell, 2001; Marini &
Genereux, 1995). The research ﬁndings tell us that we cannot teach
students and expect them to ﬁnd a way to use the information outside
school. Rather, we must teach for transfer. To do this, teachers must
clearly understand the nature of transfer and carefully design
instruction with transfer in mind (Marini & Genereux, 1995).

Transfer can be deﬁned broadly as the inﬂuence of prior

knowledge, skills, strategies, or principles on new learning. We
should be careful not to assume that all transfer is positive transfer,
in which previous learning facilitates learning on new tasks. Learners
can also experience negative transfer, in which previous learning
hinders learning on new tasks. For example, an elementary school
student’s misconception that a whale is a ﬁsh may lead to making
incorrect animal classiﬁcations in science class. Learners also may
experience zero transfer, in which previous learning has no effect on
the performance of a new task. For example, a high school student
might not apply knowledge learned from a business course to
managing money earned from a part-time job.

How exactly does prior knowledge inﬂuence our behavior in new

situations? Psychologists have long debated whether transfer involves
speciﬁc responses or more general principles and strategies. This
debate has led to different deﬁnitions of transfer.

Speci

ﬁc Versus General Transfer

An idea popular at the turn of the twentieth century, the doctrine of
formal discipline, advocated a general view of transfer in which the
study of subjects such as Latin and geometry could improve
individuals’ logical thinking and their improved mental functioning
then would transfer to other disciplines. In the early 1900s, Edward
Thorndike (1923, 1924) provided evidence against the doctrine of
formal discipline, showing that students who studied Latin or
geometry did not perform better on tests of intellectual reasoning than
students who studied other subjects.

Thorndike’s alternative to the doctrine of formal discipline, called

the theory of identical elements, is a speciﬁ c view of transfer.
According to this theory, 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. For example, mastering
single-digit addition helps the learning of two-column addition
because single-digit addition is a component skill required for
two-column addition (Mayer & Witt-rock, 1996). The more a new
learning situation resembles the context in which a skill was learned,
the more likely it is that transfer will occur.

Low-road Versus High-road Transfer

Gavriel Salomon and David Perkins (1989) provide a more detailed
account of transfer than did earlier theories of speciﬁc and general
transfer. Unlike these earlier theories, their model of transfer speciﬁes
what exactly transfers and how it transfers. Let’s explore the types of
transfer in their model.

Low-road transfer involves the “spontaneous, automatic transfer of
highly practiced skills, with little need for reﬂective thinking”
(Salomon & Perkins, 1989,
p. 118). Low-road transfer results from extensive practice of a skill
in a variety of contexts until it becomes ﬂexible and developed to
automaticity (Salomon & Perkins, 1989). Auto-maticity occurs
when a person performs a skill very fast, very accurately, and with
little attention or other cognitive load. Developing automaticity of a
skill allows a person not only to perform the skill without much
thought but also to transfer the skill to other, similar situations.
Reading and arithmetic are examples of automatic skills that transfer
to many situations in and outside school because they have been
extensively practiced in varied contexts.

In high-road transfer, an individual purposely and consciously applies general knowledge, a strategy, or a

principle learned in one situation to a different situation (Salomon & Per-

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Automaticity:

See page 197 and page 432.

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Problem solving: See page 248.

Metacognition: See page 214.

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Transfer of Skills and Knowledge

kins, 1989). For example, a child who has mastered a puzzle may approach a new and more challenging puzzle by
ﬁrst thinking of the strategies used with the original puzzle. Just as automaticity is the key characteristic of low-road
transfer, mindful    abstraction    is    the    deﬁning feature of high-road transfer. Abstraction is the process    of
retrieving    meaningful    information (that has been consciously and actively learned rather than memorized) and
applying it to a new learning context. Abstraction is mindful when it is guided by metacognition (our awareness,
monitoring,    and    regulation    of    our    thinking), allowing the learner to recognize transfer situations and apply
abstract knowledge across contexts (Fuchs et al., 2003). In the puzzle example described, the child reﬂects on what
she knows about puzzle solving and applies this knowledge to the new puzzle.

The puzzle example illustrates a type of high-road transfer called problem-solving transfer, in which we recall

a general strategy or principle that we have learned from solving one type of problem and apply it to solve another
type of problem. Analogical transfer, another example of high-road transfer, involves creating or using an existing
analogy to aid in understanding a new concept, as when science teachers compare the orbit of an electron in an atom
(new knowledge) to the orbit of a planet in the solar system (existing knowledge).

High-road transfer can also be described in simple chronological terms. Forward-reaching transfer involves

learning a principle or strategy so well that an individual selects it quickly and easily when it is needed in future
situations. For example, a high school student who has developed a deep, conceptual understanding of geometry
might easily think of ways he could use geometric principles in other classes, real-life situations, or future careers.
Backward-reaching transfer, in contrast, occurs when an individual deliberately looks for strategies or principles
learned in the past to solve a current problem or task. A high school student building a birdhouse in a woodworking
class might think back to last year’s geometry class for knowledge that could help her calculate the dimensions for
the birdhouse.

Think of your own learning experiences. When have you used forward-reaching or backward-reaching
transfer?

Problem-solving Transfer. Strategies the child has learned from solving one puzzle, such as starting with the edge pieces

ﬁrst, can

be consciously retrieved and applied to solving new and more challenging puzzles.

DO WE READILY TRANSFER WHAT WE LEARN?

The Success of Low-road Transfer

Consider all the skills you are able to perform automatically. As elementary school students you learned how to
read, and as college students you apply those reading skills broadly, to magazines, mass transit maps, MySpace
pages, and so on. These examples illustrate the success of low-road transfer: Once students develop a skill to
automaticity, they can transfer it readily to novel situations. Just as experts such as chess players, musicians, and
athletes must engage in thousands of hours of practice at their craft, students must devote an extensive amount of
time to honing their skills in areas such as reading, mathematics, computer use, speaking a foreign language,
athletics, and playing a musical instrument (Anderson, 1982; Hayes, 1985). At least 100 hours of practice are needed
for an individual to develop modest levels of skill proﬁciency (Anderson, 1982).

Keep in mind that extensive practice alone is not sufﬁcient for effective transfer to occur. Extensive practice

using rote memorization (memorizing without understanding) leads to discrete bits of information or skills in
long-term memory that are not meaningfully connected and that fade over time, making transfer less likely. To
ensure that low-road transfer occurs, students should engage in reﬂective practice rather than rote memorization
(Haskell, 2001). Reﬂective practice involves

Practicing skills to automaticity: See page 432.

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developing a conceptual understanding. For example, students must practice 2 [H11003] 3 = 6 to automaticity, but
they also need to understand the concept behind this fact.

The Problem of High-road Transfer

In order to understand the problem of high-road transfer, ﬁrst read the following story and problem, used in
research by Mary Gick and Keith Holy-oak (1980, 1983):

Practice. Musicians engage in many hours of practice to acquire skill pro

ﬁciency.

Military story
A small country was ruled from a strong fortress by a dictator. The fortress was situated in the middle of the
country, surrounded by farms and villages. Many roads led to the fortress through the countryside. A rebel
general vowed to capture the fortress. The general knew that an attack by his entire army would capture the
fortress. He gathered his army at the head of one of the roads, ready to launch a full-scale direct attack.
However, the general then learned that the dictator had planted mines on each of the roads. The mines were set
so that small bodies of men could pass over them safely, since the dictator needed to move his troops and
workers to and from the fortress. However, any large force would detonate the mines. Not only would this blow
up the road, but it would also destroy many neighboring villages. It therefore seemed impossible to capture the
fortress. However, the general devised a simple plan. He divided his army into small groups and dispatched
each group to the head of a different road. When all was ready he gave the signal and each group marched
down a different road. Each group continued down its road to the fortress so that the entire army arrived
together at the fortress at the same time. In this way, the general captured the fortress and overthrew the
dictator. (Gick & Holyoak, 1980, p. 351)

Medical problem
Suppose you are a doctor faced with a patient who has a malignant tumor in his stomach. It is impossible to
operate on the patient, but unless the tumor is destroyed the patient will die. There is a kind of ray that can be
used to destroy the tumor. If the rays reach the tumor all at once at a sufﬁ ciently high intensity, the tumor will
be destroyed. Unfortunately, at this intensity the healthy tissue that the rays pass through on the way to the
tumor will also be destroyed. At lower intensities the rays are harmless to healthy tissue, but they will not affect
the tumor either. What type of procedure might be used to destroy the tumor with the rays, and at the same time
avoid destroying the healthy tissue? (Duncker, 1945, pp. 307–308)

Did you solve the medical problem? If not, reread the military story for a hint. In the study, college students read

the medical problem after reading the military story, which provides an analogous solution to the medical problem.
When prompted to use the military story to help solve the medical problem, the majority of students arrived at the
correct solution: Use the convergence of several rays at lower intensities from different angles. However,
signiﬁcantly fewer students were able to generate the solution without the hint given by the military story. This
example, like several other classic experimental studies, illustrates a well-known ﬁnding—students often fail to
spontaneously transfer what they have learned from a previous problem to a structurally similar problem, even when
the new problem is presented immediately after the original problem (Gick & Holyoak, 1983; Hayes & Simon,
1977; Reed, Ernst, & Banerji, 1974).

Experimental studies indicate that high-road transfer involving problem solving and analogies is rare because

students lack one or more of three skills needed for successful transfer (Mayer & Witt-rock, 1996):

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BOX 13.1

Training problem:
A nurse mixes a 6% boric acid solution with a 12% boric acid solution. How
many pints of each are needed to make 4.5 pints of an 8% boric acid
solution?

Transfer problem:
A grocer mixes peanuts worth $1.65 a pound and almonds worth $2.10 a
pound. How many pounds of each are needed to make 30 pounds of a
mixture worth $1.83 a pound?

Adapted from Reed, 1987.

A Mathematical Problem-solving Example

Module 13 :

Transfer of Skills and Knowledge

1. Recognition. Students often fail to recognize that they have an
analogous solution in their memory that they can apply to solving
a new problem. In the study described above, for example, most
students did not think of the convergence solution to the tumor
problem unless the researcher explicitly directed them to search
previously read stories for a hint about the solution.
2. Abstraction. Students often fail to abstract the general principle
or strategy. In the study described, reading two stories with the
same solution enhanced students’ ability to abstract the analogy
for the tumor solution, compared to reading one story with the
solution and one irrelevant story. This suggests that students may
need a lot of varied exposure to problems in order for them to
become successful at recognizing and abstracting analogous
strategies.

3. Mapping. Students may fail to transfer because of difﬁculty
mapping—making appropriate connections between the original
and the new problem—especially when the problems appear very

dissimilar on the surface (Holyoak & Koh, 1987; Reed, 1987). For
example, the two mathematical problems in Box 13.1 involve an
identical solution but look very different—one is about mixtures of
boric acid, and the other is about mixing peanuts and almonds.
Learning how to solve one problem often does not help students
solve a new problem that looks different but has the same solution
(Gick & Holyoak, 1983; Hayes & Simon, 1977; Reed, 1987).
Research on the transfer of school learning to other contexts is

equally discouraging. Although some research demonstrates
successful transfer of strategies from one subject to a different
learning context in school (Adey & Shayer, 1993; Chen & Klahr,
1999), other research shows a general failure of students to apply
what they have learned in school to novel tasks (Brown, Campione,
Webber, & McGilly, 1992; Nickerson, Perkins, & Smith, 1985). For
example, students typically do not exhibit transfer of mathematical
problem solving (Bransford & Schwartz, 1999; Mayer, Quilici, &
Moreno, 1999). This is especially true for elementary school students
who have difﬁculty applying computational skills when problems
change in minor ways, as in the training and transfer problems in Box
13.1 (Durnin, Perrone, & MacKay, 1997; Larkin, 1989). Likewise,
children and adults rarely apply school-taught procedures to problems
they encounter in real life, such as determining a better buy in a
supermarket (Lave, 1988; Saxe, 2002; Schliemann &
Acioly, 1989).

Why do individuals seldom transfer school-learned

knowledge to real-life contexts? One line of research suggests
that they may not have learned the knowledge in a meaningful way in
the ﬁrst place (Bereiter, 1995).
Instruction that relies primarily on rote memorization or convergent
thinking (obtaining the one

Convergent thinking: See page 417.

Conceptual Understanding. Learning the concept behind multiplication
can facilitate high-road transfer.

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TA B L E 1 3 .1

Distinguishing Between Near and Far Transfer

Domain Description Near example Far example

Knowledge learned for one purpose may transfer to a similar purpose or to a very different purpose.

Physical context Knowledge may transfer from one context to a similar physical context or to a different

environment.

Subject matter Knowledge may transfer to a similar or very different subject matter.

Using knowledge from a calculus class to solve equations in a physics class

Using knowledge of the scienti

ﬁc method (science class) as part of a persuasive writing assignment (English class)

Applying knowledge about liquid measures to solving word problems at school
Applying knowledge about liquid measures to bake a cake at home

Functional context

Temporal context Near and far transfer can be distinguished by the length of time between learning and

transfer.

Source: Adapted from Barnett & Ceci, 2002.

Modality Knowledge in learning and transfer situations may involve the same or a different modality.

Transferring knowledge over a short amount of time (same or next day)

Using knowledge of calculating percentages in math class to solve word problems (both academic purposes)

Using knowledge of calculating percentages (academic) to

ﬁgure out batting averages of favorite baseball players

(recreational)
Transferring knowledge over a longer time lapse (weeks, months, or years later)

Social context Knowledge in the learning and transfer situations may involve a similar social context or different

social contexts.

Working alone in both learning and transfer situations

Using what has been learned from a group activity to do independent research

Listening to a lecture on fetal pig dissection and being able to describe the process to a friend (oral modality for both)
Listening to a lecture on fetal pig dissection and being able to perform the dissection (oral versus hands-on)

a Physical and functional contexts sometimes overlap. For example, baking a cake at home can be far transfer in terms of physical
context (outside school) and functional context (real-life purpose). However, physical and functional context can also be distinct. A
student may use percentages to calculate his or her favorite players

’ batting averages at an after-school program at school (similar

physical context, different purpose).

right answer to a question) produces a narrow ability to answer only certain kinds of questions rather than
encouraging students to form ﬂexible knowledge that can be abstracted to new situations. Experimental studies have
shown that learners who understand concepts and procedures are more likely to transfer their learning to novel
contexts than students who learn by rote memorization (Adams et al., 1988; Bransford et al., 2000). For example,
fourth- and ﬁfth-grade students were more likely to engage in transfer of mathematical problems if they learned
conceptual principles rather than simply memorizing procedures (Perry, 1991).

Another line of research suggests that high-road transfer of school-learned knowledge may be limited by the

extent to which the learning and transfer contexts are similar (Barnett & Ceci, 2002). As Table 13.1 illustrates,
learning and transfer contexts may differ on several dimensions, including subject matter, physical features, and
purpose. We may readily engage in near transfer, that is, applying prior knowledge to new situations that are very
similar, but not identical to, the learning context. However, we may be less likely to engage in far transfer, or
applying prior knowledge to a context that is very different from the learning context. We may not realize that our
knowledge is relevant in a context that is very different from the learning context (Driscoll, 2000; Singley &
Anderson, 1989). We also may ﬁnd it difﬁcult to recognize uses for our school-learned knowledge when faced with
real-life tasks if the content taught in school is disconnected from a clear goal or purpose for learning

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it (Barnett & Ceci, 2002; Gick & Holyoak, 1987). Transfer across
very different contexts may occur rarely simply because it requires so
much effort (Gage & Berliner, 1992).

Think about your school experiences. Were you encouraged to
memorize, or to think, problem-solve, and practice using your
knowledge? How might this have affected transfer opportunities?

TEACHING PRINCIPLES THAT FACILITATE TRANSFER

Teachers can use several research-based principles to help them
design instruction that will foster transfer. Similarly, the guidelines
can help students adopt learning strategies that lead to more efﬁcient
transfer. These principles include:

develop automaticity of skills,

promote meaningful learning,

teach metacognitive strategies, and

motivate students to value learning.

Develop Automaticity of Skills

To facilitate low-road transfer of academic skills, teachers should
provide students with many opportunities to practice and achieve
automaticity of academic skills. To be effective, practice needs to
(Haskell, 2001):

be reﬂective rather than rote,

occur in a variety of contexts, and

involve overlearning, in which students engage in continued

practice after they have demonstrated mastery. Skills continue to
improve long after individuals achieve complete accuracy
(Schneider, 1985).
Developing automaticity does not necessarily mean that teachers

need to use drill and practice, a method that relies on ﬂashcards and
rote memorization. The use of drill and practice has declined since
the 1970s, after it acquired a reputation as “drill and kill,” meaning
that its lack of meaningful context or purpose for learning killed
students’ motivation. However, extensive practice leading to
automaticity can occur within the context of meaningful and fun
academic tasks such as problem solving, collaborative activities,
computer games, and classroom games.

Developing automaticity can also facilitate high-road transfer.

Students who attain automaticity of lower-level skills, such as word
decoding and arithmetic computation, are able to focus more
cognitive resources on higher-level cognitive skills, such as
comprehension, planning, monitoring, and problem solving (Case,
1985; Geary, 1994; Perfetti, 1992). Greater attention to higher-level
skills during learning will increase the likelihood of high-road
transfer in elementary as well as middle and high school students. For
example, a high school student who can automatically perform the
arithmetic operations of algebra is more likely to understand and
transfer algebraic problem solving than is a student who struggles
with arithmetic operations.

Even though automaticity enables the development of higher-level

cognitive skills such as reading comprehension, problem solving, and
reasoning, a lack of automaticity should not be an excuse for delaying
students’ exposure to complex cognitive skills. Often,
lower-achieving students will continue to receive basic skills
instruction and drill and practice as a prerequisite for progressing to
instruction in higher-level skills. As a result, lower-achieving students
receive less instruction in these skills and fall farther behind their
peers as they move through higher grades, when complex cognitive
skills become increasingly important (Means & Knapp, 1994). In
working with lower-achieving students, teachers are encouraged to:

create problem-solving tasks that remove the constraint of

automaticity. Students can use calculators for mathematical
problem solving,

Module 13 :

Transfer of Skills and Knowledge

Developing Automaticity. Teachers can move beyond drill and practice,
shown here, to provide extensive practice within the context of meaningful
tasks.

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While most of the children in this

ﬁrst-grade class are solving word problems

independently or in small groups, Ms. J. is sitting at a table with three
students

—Raja, Erik, and Ernestine. Each child has plastic cubes that can

be connected, a pencil, and a big sheet of paper on which are written the
same word problems. They read the

ﬁrst problem together: “Raja made 18

clay dinosaurs. Ernestine has nine clay dinosaurs. How many more clay
dinosaurs does Raja have than Ernestine?

”

The students work on the problem in different ways. Raja puts together 18

cubes. She removes nine of them and counts the rest. She gets 11. She
writes down the answer and looks up at the teacher for con

ﬁrmation. Ms. J.

looks at the answer, looks back at the problem, and then says,

“You’re real

close.

” As Raja recounts the cubes, Ms. J. watches her closely. This time

Raja counts nine.

Ernestine also connects 18 cubes. Then she counts nine and breaks them

off. She counts what she has left. Ernestine exclaims,

“I’ve got it!” Ms. J.

looks at Ernestine

’s answer and says, “No, you're real close.” Ernestine does

the same procedure over again.

Erik connects nine cubes, and in a separate group he connects 18 cubes.

He places them next to each other and matches them up, counting across
each row to make sure there are nine matches. Then Erik breaks off the
unmatched cubes and counts them.

“I’ve got it!” he announces.

Turning to the group, Ms. J. queries,

“Okay now, how did you get your

answers? Remember, that

’s what’s always the important thing: How did you

get it? Let

’s see if we can come up with different ways this time. [Erik has his

hand raised.] Erik, what did you do?

”

Erik: I had nine cubes, and then I put 18 cubes and then I put them
together. And the 18 cubes . . . I took away some of the 18 cubes.

Ms. J.: Okay, let

’s see if we can understand what Erik did. Okay, you got—show me 18

cubes.
Erik: Okay. [He puts together two of the three sets of nine he has lined up in front of him.]

Ms. J.: Okay, so you have 18 cubes. Then you had nine.

Erik takes nine cubes in his other hand and puts them side by side.
Ms. J.: Then you compared.
Erik: [simultaneously with Ms. J.] Then I put them together.
Ms. J.: Then you put them together.
Erik: Then I took . . .
Ms. J.: Nine away.
Erik: Nine away, and I counted them [the ones left], and there were nine.
Ms. J.: Okay. So that

’s one way to do it. Nice job, Erik. Which way did you do it, Raja?

Ms. J. discusses their solution methods with Raja and Ernestine.

Ms. J.: So we had

—how many different ways did we do that

problem? [The group discusses the different ways.] So we did the
problem in three different ways. Let

’s read the next problem.

Adapted from Means & Knapp, 1994.

BOX 13.2

Example of Mathematical Problem Solving with Lower Achievers

Scaffolding:

See page 125.

Reciprocal teaching: See page 219.

dictate essays to remove grammatical constraints, and draft essays or
journals without worrying about handwriting, spelling, or
punctuation (Glynn, Britton, Muth, & Dogan, 1982; Scardamalia,
Bereiter, & Goelman, 1982).

balance basic skills instruction with teaching methods that focus on complex

cognitive skills.

Teachers can focus on mathematical problem solving with
lower-achieving students who have not yet achieved automaticity of
math facts, as Box 13.2 shows. They also can use reciprocal

teaching, a method of teaching metacognitive strategies important
for reading comprehension, with students who have poor reading
skills. In this method, the teacher models strategies of summarizing,
questioning, clarifying, and predicting and provides scaffolding
(support, hints, and prompts) to help students acquire and later
demonstrate these strategies on their own, without the teacher’s

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assistance. Reciprocal teaching has improved the reading
comprehension of students with poor reading comprehension from
elementary through secondary education (Palincsar & Brown,
1984; Rosenshine & Meister, 1994). It is also effective when used
with students with learning disabilities from elementary through
middle school (Gajria, Jitendra, Sood, & Sacks, 2007; Lederer,
2000).

Promote Meaningful Learning

High-road transfer relies on active, meaningful learning in which
students possess deep-level knowledge structures (not discrete facts
acquired by rote memorization) that are connected to similar
concepts, prior knowledge, and real-life experiences (Bransford &
Schwartz, 1999; Renkl, Mandl, & Gruber, 1996; Salomon & Perkins,
1989). Teachers can use a variety of techniques for encouraging
meaningful learning.

Take inventory of students’ prior knowledge before beginning a

new lesson or topic. Teachers can pre-vent negative transfer by
determining what students already know about a topic, identifying
inaccurate prior knowledge, and correcting it before teaching new
information. Tapping students’ prior knowledge will also help
students see the relevance of new material and enable them to
integrate it with their existing knowledge, facilitating
forward-reaching transfer. Teachers can do this by asking students to
brainstorm what they know about a topic, and students can adopt a
strategy of asking themselves “What do I know about this topic
already?” when they read a textbook or research a topic. KWL, a
popular method used in schools (Figure 13.1), taps prior knowledge
by requiring students to list their Knowledge about a topic and What
questions they have before instruction begins (Ogle, 1986). To
complete the process, students list what they Learned after
instruction.

Require students to construct relationships between new

information and their prior knowledge. For example, teachers can ask
students to think of their own example of a concept rather than

memorizing the example given in a textbook. Such methods have
been used successfully in subjects such as reading, mathematics,
science, economics, and geography (Mackenzie & White, 1982;
Osborne & Wittrock, 1983; Peled & Wittrock, 1990) and with
students from lower-socioeconomic backgrounds (Kourilsky &
Wittrock, 1992).

Provide students with questions to answer as they read their

textbooks. Teachers should construct questions that focus on
application to a situation outside the learning context (in this case,
reading the textbook) rather than factual questions. Application
questions facilitate students’ transfer of knowledge to new examples
or to solving new problems (Shavelson, Berliner, Ravitch, & Loeding,
1974; Watts & Anderson, 1971).

Use manipulatives. These are materials that encourage active

learning and help students make a connection between a concrete
situation and a more abstract principle (Mayer & Wittrock, 1996).
Hands-on activities involving experiments can be used in science, and
beads, Dienes blocks, or any other concrete objects can help
elementary school students learn computational principles in math
(Champagne, Gunstone, & Klopfer, 1985; Montessori, 1964).

Teach by analogy. Science educators are increasingly

using analogies as a way to tap students’ prior knowledge about topics
(Haskell, 2001). For example, teachers can use the ﬂow of water
through pipes to introduce the concepts of current and voltage in
electrical circuits (Brooks & Dansereau, 1987; Gentner & Gentner,
1983). Because students have difﬁculty mapping—making
appropriate connections between the analogy and a new
problem—teachers should check students’ understanding to prevent
incorrect application of the analogy (negative transfer).

Use worked-out examples for practice at problem solving. In a

worked-out example, students can see the solution and the steps
involved in reaching the solution. Worked-out examples are most
effective when they are structurally similar to the current problem
(Reed, 1987). They also are more effective when students actively
attempt to understand the sample problem rather than merely
rereading it (Chi, Bassock, Lewis, Riemann, & Glaser, 1989; Zhu &
Simon, 1987).

Figure 13.1: Tapping
Prior Knowledge.

KWL, shown here, can help prevent negative transfer by assessing
students

’ prior knowledge before a lesson.

K
What I know

W
What I want to learn
L
What I have learned

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238

cluster four

cognitive processes

Use multiple examples or similar concepts in multiple contexts.

Optimally, instruction should continually return to topics or concepts,
but on different levels and in different contexts (Haskell, 2001).
Teachers also should encourage students to learn general strategies or
principles in many contexts so they can ﬂexibly apply what they have
learned to a variety of situations (Perkins, Jay, & Tishman, 1993;
Prawat, 1989). This will encourage mindful abstraction and prevent
students from tying knowledge only to speciﬁc situations or contexts
(Salomon & Perkins, 1989).

Teach Metacognitive Strategies

Because successful transfer requires the ability to identify appropriate
transfer situations, it is important to teach students metacognitive
strategies for recognizing situations in which they can use their
knowledge. A recent study on teaching mathematical problem solving
in third-grade classrooms indicates that (Fuchs et al., 2003):

explicitly teaching students what transfer is leads to greater

transfer on novel problems compared to students not instructed about
transfer. Teachers in this study taught students the concept of
transfer (meaning to move), gave examples of how students transfer
skills (moving from two-digit horizontal problems to two-digit
vertical problems), and reviewed the meaning of transfer in every
unit. Both lower and higher achievers beneﬁted from this instruction,
in contrast to earlier research suggesting that transfer is difﬁcult for
low-achieving students (Fuchs, Fuchs, Kams, Hamlett, & Karzaroff,
1999; Mayer, 1998; Woodward & Baxter, 1997).

instruction and practice in metacognitive strategies can facilitate

transfer. In this study, students practiced classifying different types
of problems, solved partially worked-out examples, and were
reminded to think of previous solutions when solving new problems.
Practice with multiple types of problems can help students overcome
their difﬁculties both in abstracting principles or solutions and in
mapping solutions from previously learned problems to new ones.

Teachers can incorporate metacognitive strategies in their lessons

in many ways, from simple cuing to more explicit instruction. They
can begin by having students cue themselves: “Do I know anything
from [other subjects or problems] that might help here?” (Salomon &
Perkins, 1989). Cuing the relevance of recently learned information or
the similarities across tasks facilitates backward-reaching transfer
(Catrambone & Holyoak, 1989; Ross, 1987, 1989). To get students to
independently recognize transfer situations without the aid of external
cues, teachers can explicitly teach meta-cognitive strategies—such as
the scientiﬁc method, searching the Internet for research sources,
reading comprehension strategies, and problem-solving strategies—in
many different subjects. Both in-class activities and out-of-class
assignments can provide students with opportunities for practicing
strategies in the context of subject-matter instruction. Explicit
instruction in reading and mathematics strategies can encourage
high-road transfer, especially among lower achievers (Fuchs et al.,
2003; Gajria et al., 2007).

Motivate Students to Value Learning

Students’ motivation to learn and to take advantage of transfer
opportunities can lead to higher levels of transfer (Colquitt, LePine, &
Noe, 2000; Pea, 1987). Teachers can facilitate transfer by using
several techniques to encourage students to take an interest in and
value learning.

Encourage students to set mastery goals. Students with mastery

goals focus on mastering a task, growing intellectually, and acquiring
new skills and knowledge (in contrast to learning for the sake of
passing a test or getting a good grade). As a result, they are more
likely to (Grant & Dweck, 2003; Wolters, 2004):

engage in meaningful learning (or deep-level processing),

use metacognitive strategies, and

show high levels of effort.

All these behaviors have been linked to greater likelihood of transfer
(Pugh & Bergin, 2006). Students with mastery goals are more likely
to engage in backward-reaching transfer, looking for learned
information that may be helpful to their current understanding, and
forward-reaching transfer, looking for ways to apply their newly
learned knowledge. Part of being a good student is acquiring a
tendency to independently look for transfer opportunities (Salomon &
Perkins, 1989).

Metacognition: See page 214.

Mastery goals: See page 280.

Motivation to learn: See page 256.

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module thirteen

transfer of skills and knowledge

239

Capitalize on students’ natural interests when teaching new topics.

Students who come to school with individual interest—an intrinsic
interest in a particular subject or activity—are more likely to use
deep-level processing in learning content (Ainley, Hidi, & Berndorff,
2002; Schiefele, 1991). A student who has interest in a particular
topic may consciously look for ways the material can be applied in
other contexts, facilitating forward-reaching transfer (Salomon &
Perkins, 1989). For example, a high school student who wants to
become a doctor might be interested in ways science topics can be
applied to medicine and therefore be more likely to engage in
forward-reaching transfer in science classes.

Use techniques to create situational interest. Introducing new

material using enthusiasm, novelty, and surprise can spark situational
interest—an immediate interest in a particular lesson (Covington,
2000; Stipek, 1996). While some studies suggest that situational
interest fosters deep-level processing, and therefore transfer (Hidi,
2001; Hidi & Harackiewicz, 2000; Krapp, 1999), other research has
found that situational interest might not lead to transfer because it can
be superﬁcial and unrelated to learning goals (Bergin, 1999; Lepper &
Malone, 1987). Consider these examples:

Elementary school teachers who believed in using manipulatives

to teach mathematics often used them to make math fun rather
than to foster thinking about mathematical principles (Moyer,
2002).

Students who read a science text that included seductive

details—highly interesting segments of a text conveying
nonessential information—recalled fewer main ideas and solved
fewer transfer problems than did students who read the same text
without seductive details (Harp & Mayer, 1997, 1998; Wade,
2001). These details activate prior knowledge that is not directly
related to the material to be learned, making it less likely that
students will deeply process the important points (Harp & Mayer,
1998; Pugh & Bergin, 2006). Using seductive details in lessons
and lectures can attract students’ interest, but it may undermine
effective learning that would lead to transfer.

Encourage students to acquire critical dispositions (attitudes and

values) about thinking and learning. High-road, far transfer requires
students to develop a conscious and purposeful approach to acquiring

knowledge (Langer, 1993; Salomon & Globerson, 1987). If students
are taught to think scientiﬁcally and to think critically about concepts
in particular subjects such as science, math, or literature, they will
learn to value this type of thinking and will be more likely to transfer
this disposition to other subjects and to real-life experiences (Bereiter,
1995).

Think of some speci

ﬁc ways you can implement these guidelines in the grade you intend to teach.

Module 13 :

Transfer of Skills and Knowledge

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240

case studies: re

ﬂect and evaluate

Summary

Contrast the speci

ﬁc versus general view of transfer with the high-road versus low-road view. The

general view of transfer proposes that certain school experiences allow transfer of general mental
functions to new situations, while the speci

ﬁc view claims that speciﬁc behaviors transfer, but only to the

extent that the original and new situations share common elements. The low-road versus high-road
distinction provides a more detailed account of transfer than earlier theories of speci

ﬁc and general

transfer. This distinction speci

ﬁes what exactly transfers and how it transfers. In low-road transfer, highly

practiced skills are automatically applied from one situation to the next, whereas high-road transfer
involves the conscious and re

ﬂective application of abstract knowledge from one context to a very

different context.
Explain why high-road transfer is more dif

ﬁcult to achieve than low-road transfer.

Low-road transfer

— the spontaneous transfer of automatic skills—is relatively easy to achieve because

students have extensively practiced skills in a variety of contexts and have developed them to
automaticity. High-road transfer

—

a conscious retrieval of abstract knowledge, principles, or strategies from one situation to a very different
situ-ation

—is more difﬁcult to achieve because knowledge sometimes is not learned in a meaningful way.

Also, applying knowledge from one context to very dissimilar physical, functional, or social contexts
requires a lot of cognitive effort.
Identify four teaching principles that support transfer, and explain how each facilitates transfer.
(1) Require students to develop automaticity of skills. This leads to low-road transfer and frees up
cognitive resources for use on higher-level tasks. (2) Promote meaningful learning, in which students form
a rich, interconnected knowledge base of concepts, principles, and strategies. Deep-level knowledge is
more likely to transfer to a variety of situations. (3) Teach metacognitive strategies so students
recognize high-road transfer situations.
(4) Motivate students to value learning, which may enhance the likelihood of transfer. Students with
individual interest in a topic and with mastery goals are more likely to process information deeply and to
look for ways to apply their knowledge.

Key Concepts

analogical transfer automaticity backward-reaching transfer doctrine of formal discipline far transfer forward-reaching

transfer high-road transfer individual interest

KWL low-road transfer mastery goals mindful abstraction near transfer negative transfer overlearning positive transfer

problem-solving transfer re

ﬂective practice rote memorization seductive details situational interest theory of identical

elements transfer zero transfer

Case Studies:

Refl ect and Evaluate

Early Childhood:

“Air”

These questions refer to the case study on page 206.
1. Explain how Shelby

’s prediction about the cork represents negative transfer.

2. How did Barb give her students opportunities to construct knowledge in a meaningful way, and how does that

affect transfer?

3. Barb

’s lesson on air began with a story, was followed up by an experiment, and ended with kite designing. Using

Table

13.1, discuss whether the kite-designing activity would be considered near or far transfer.

4. Would you expect students in Barb

’s classroom to transfer their knowledge of aerodynamics to new learning

situations?

Why or why not?

5. Summarize the teaching principles Barb used to encourage transfer.

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6. Several parents approach Barb with a concern that she is not
focusing enough on teaching basic reading and mathematics skills.
While they appreciate her commitment to teaching complex
problem-solving and thinking skills, they believe that automaticity of
lower-level skills should come

ﬁrst. Imagine that you are Barb. How

would you respond to the parents?

Elementary School:

“Reading About Pirates”

These questions refer to the case study on page 208.

1. Using Table 13.1, discuss whether the dictionary worksheet
activity completed by the reading group would be considered near
or far transfer.

2. What strategy did Ian use to try to make the dictionary assignment more interesting for his students?

Was he successful at stimulating students

’ interest? Consider the

students

’ point of view, as well as how Ian might have evaluated

this portion of his teaching.

3. Based on your reading in the module, how might stimulating interest facilitate transfer?
4. What skills that were used in Ian

’s reading group should be developed to a level of automaticity?

Why would automaticity of these skills be important for transfer?
5. Use the teaching principles discussed in the module to evaluate
how well Ian

’s approach promotes high-road transfer. Offer Ian

speci

ﬁc strategies for improving his teaching.

Middle School:

“King Washington”

These questions refer to the case study on page 210.

1. How did Tom try to motivate his students to value what they
were learning? Why is this important for transfer?
2. Tom sparked students

’ interest with his questions about George

Washington, and once they were hooked he proceeded to lecture.
Explain why a lecture might not be conducive to meaningful
learning, and provide an alternative that would better facilitate
transfer.
3. What metacognitive strategies did Tom teach his students?
Could these strategies help facilitate transfer of learning? Explain.

4. Summarize those teaching principles used by Tom that are most likely to support transfer.

5. Provide an example of one way a skill or piece of information
learned in Tom

’s class might transfer to a new learning situation. Is

your example one of high-road or low-road transfer?

High School:

“I Don’t Understand”

These questions refer to the case study on page 212.

1. How did students

’ prior math knowledge play a role in their

understanding of the lesson on changing repeating decimals to
fractions? Think of some techniques So Yoon could have used to
ensure that students had appropriate prior knowledge before
starting the lesson.
2. The class was learning how to change repeating decimals into
fractions. Would transfer of this skill to a new context be considered
high-road or low-road transfer? Support your answer.
3. Students in So Yoon

’s algebra class learned how to convert

fractions into decimals in elementary school. Using Table 13.1,
discuss whether learning to change repeating decimals into
fractions can be considered near or far transfer.
4. How could So Yoon have made the assignment more
meaningful for her students? What is the likelihood of transfer
outside algebra class in this case?
5. How did So Yoon try to encourage backward-reaching transfer
of students

’ previous math knowledge? Think of some other ways

she could have encouraged backward-reaching transfer.
6. Use the teaching principles discussed in the module to evaluate
how well So Yoon

’s teaching approach promotes high-road

transfer. Offer So Yoon speci

ﬁc strategies for improving her

teaching.