transfer

Transfer is the idea that a learner can take a skill or a concept they learned in one environment and apply that skill or concept in a different environment. Anderson //et al// outline research focusing on transfer and suggest the following conclusions regarding transfer (Anderson //et al//, 1996):
 * 1) Depending upon the experimental situation and the relation of the material originally learned to the transfer material, there can be either large amounts of transfer, a modest amount, no transfer at all, or even negative transfer.
 * 2) Representation and degree of practice are major determinants of the transfer from one task to another, and transfer varies from one domain to another directly with the number of symbolic components that are shared.
 * 3) The amount of transfer depends on where attention is directed during learning or at transfer. Training on the cues that signal the relevance of an available skill should probably receive more emphasis in instruction than it now typically receives. (pg 7-8)

In Greeno's response, he outlines his idea of the situative version of transfer (Greeno 1997):

"A test for transfer involves transforming the situation in which an activity was learned. To succeed in the transfer test, the activity -- that is, the interaction of the learner with the other systems in the situation -- has to be transformed in a way that depends on how the situation is transformed. Whether this transformation is easy or hard for a learner depends on how the learner was attuned to constraints and affordances in the initial learning activity." (pg 12)

Greeno also implies that situated theory can easily accept transfer, and that it is a matter of teacher under the right conditions. As stated in (Greeno, 1997, page 12): "If the initial learning was accomplished with attunements to constraints and affordances that are invariant across the learning-to-transfer transformation, transfer should occur easily."

Anderson, J. R., Reder, L. M., & Simon, H. A. (1996). Situated Learning and Education. //Educational Researcher//, 25(4), 5-11.

Greeno, J. G. (1997). On Claims that Answer the Wrong Question. //Educational Researcher//, 26(1), 5-17.