Educational Psychology / Unit 4 EDP 0307 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Classifying Transfer
The idea
To classify an example of transfer, ask three questions. Did the earlier learning help, hurt or do nothing? That makes it positive, negative or zero. How different is the new situation from the old? Similar settings mean near transfer; very different ones, far. Did the learner apply it automatically, through well-practised skill, or deliberately, by thinking about what earlier knowledge might apply? The first is low-road transfer and the second high-road.
In practice
Worked example: a student who learned to outline essays in English class chooses, unprompted, to outline a science report. Positive, fairly far, and high-road.
Where people slip
Distance and deliberateness are separate dimensions, so judge each on its own. Negative transfer still counts as transfer; it differs only in direction, and spotting it helps a teacher anticipate the errors students will make.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Unlocks
- Nothing yet depends on this.
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