Foreword, Robert Dufresne, Jose Mestre and James M. Royer. Re-Framing the Evaluation of Education: Assessing Whether Learning Transfers Beyond the Classroom, Susan M. Barnett and Stephen J. Ceci. How Far Can Transfer Go? Making Transfer Happen Across Physical, Temporal, and Conceptual Space, Diane Halpern and Milt Hakel.
The chapters contained in the book present a new and exciting set of conceptual tools that will not only allow us to think about transfer in more productive ways, but will also enable the development of educational and measurement tools that will greatly facilitate our ability to educate the children in our schools. This volume is eclectic in bringing together researchers from psychology and science education (especially physics)—who would not normally present their ideas under the same forum—to share their views and perspectives on transfer. What we believe has emerged is a fresh look at transfer issues from a multidisciplinary perspective.
Thirty-eight American academics, researchers, and consultants from the fields of psychology and physics education contribute 12 chapters exploring transfer--how information learned at one point in time influences performance on information encountered at a later point in time. Topics discussed include efficiency and innovation in transfer; fuzzy-tr
The 2004 Physics Education Research (PER) Conference brought together researchers in how we teach physics and how it is learned. Student understanding of concepts, the efficacy of different pedagogical techniques, and the importance of student attitudes toward physics and knowledge were all discussed. These Proceedings capture an important snapshot of the PER community, containing an incredibly broad collection of research papers of work in progress.
The book addresses a crucial issue for all involved in education and training: the transfer of learning to new and different contexts. Educators, employers and learners face the problem of ensuring that what is learnt in the classroom is able to be adapted and used in the workplace. It focuses on adult learners in professional and vocational contexts. The authors provide an accessible book on the transfer of learning which draws on multi-disciplinary perspectives from education, psychology and management. The Transfer of Learning will be useful both for postgraduate students and for practitioners wanting to deepen their understanding of transfer and for those interested in practical applications. It combines theory and practice from international research and the authors' own case studies of transfer involving learners engaged in professional development and study towards qualifications. Theories of adult learning, change and lifelong learning are discussed in relation to the transfer of learning. The purpose of this book is to emphasise to tertiary educators and trainers the importance of transfer and in doing so highlight the participants' voices as central foci in coming to an understanding of the process. By doing this it balances the literature which has to date emphasized transfer from a trainer's and/or organization's perspective. There has been little if any substantive material on tertiary transfer issues and yet demands are increasing for tertiary education providers to be more accountable and more focused on developing students' ability to use their learning in everyday work situations. The book is unique in that it adopts a phenomenological perspective and underscores the significance of the participants' voices in understanding issues.
The transfer of learning is universally accepted as the ultimate aim of teaching. Facilitating knowledge transfer has perplexed educators and psychologists over time and across theoretical frameworks; it remains a central issue for today's practitioners and theorists. This volume examines the reasons for past failures and offers a reconceptualization of the notion of knowledge transfer, its problems and limitations, as well as its possibilities. Leading scholars outline programs of instruction that have effectively produced transfer at a variety of levels from kindergarten to university. They also explore a broad range of issues related to learning transfer including conceptual development, domain-specific knowledge, learning strategies, communities of learners, and disposition. The work of these contributors epitomizes theory-practice integration and enables the reader to review the reciprocal relation between the two that is so essential to good theorizing and effective teaching.
Americans have long recognized that investments in public education contribute to the common good, enhancing national prosperity and supporting stable families, neighborhoods, and communities. Education is even more critical today, in the face of economic, environmental, and social challenges. Today's children can meet future challenges if their schooling and informal learning activities prepare them for adult roles as citizens, employees, managers, parents, volunteers, and entrepreneurs. To achieve their full potential as adults, young people need to develop a range of skills and knowledge that facilitate mastery and application of English, mathematics, and other school subjects. At the same time, business and political leaders are increasingly asking schools to develop skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and self-management - often referred to as "21st century skills." Education for Life and Work: Developing Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21st Century describes this important set of key skills that increase deeper learning, college and career readiness, student-centered learning, and higher order thinking. These labels include both cognitive and non-cognitive skills- such as critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, effective communication, motivation, persistence, and learning to learn. 21st century skills also include creativity, innovation, and ethics that are important to later success and may be developed in formal or informal learning environments. This report also describes how these skills relate to each other and to more traditional academic skills and content in the key disciplines of reading, mathematics, and science. Education for Life and Work: Developing Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21st Century summarizes the findings of the research that investigates the importance of such skills to success in education, work, and other areas of adult responsibility and that demonstrates the importance of developing these skills in K-16 education. In this report, features related to learning these skills are identified, which include teacher professional development, curriculum, assessment, after-school and out-of-school programs, and informal learning centers such as exhibits and museums.
Over the past century, educational psychologists and researchers have posited many theories to explain how individuals learn, i.e. how they acquire, organize and deploy knowledge and skills. The 20th century can be considered the century of psychology on learning and related fields of interest (such as motivation, cognition, metacognition etc.) and it is fascinating to see the various mainstreams of learning, remembered and forgotten over the 20th century and note that basic assumptions of early theories survived several paradigm shifts of psychology and epistemology. Beyond folk psychology and its naïve theories of learning, psychological learning theories can be grouped into some basic categories, such as behaviorist learning theories, connectionist learning theories, cognitive learning theories, constructivist learning theories, and social learning theories. Learning theories are not limited to psychology and related fields of interest but rather we can find the topic of learning in various disciplines, such as philosophy and epistemology, education, information science, biology, and – as a result of the emergence of computer technologies – especially also in the field of computer sciences and artificial intelligence. As a consequence, machine learning struck a chord in the 1980s and became an important field of the learning sciences in general. As the learning sciences became more specialized and complex, the various fields of interest were widely spread and separated from each other; as a consequence, even presently, there is no comprehensive overview of the sciences of learning or the central theoretical concepts and vocabulary on which researchers rely. The Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning provides an up-to-date, broad and authoritative coverage of the specific terms mostly used in the sciences of learning and its related fields, including relevant areas of instruction, pedagogy, cognitive sciences, and especially machine learning and knowledge engineering. This modern compendium will be an indispensable source of information for scientists, educators, engineers, and technical staff active in all fields of learning. More specifically, the Encyclopedia provides fast access to the most relevant theoretical terms provides up-to-date, broad and authoritative coverage of the most important theories within the various fields of the learning sciences and adjacent sciences and communication technologies; supplies clear and precise explanations of the theoretical terms, cross-references to related entries and up-to-date references to important research and publications. The Encyclopedia also contains biographical entries of individuals who have substantially contributed to the sciences of learning; the entries are written by a distinguished panel of researchers in the various fields of the learning sciences.
This book provides a common language for and makes connections between transfer research in mathematics education and transfer research in related fields. It generates renewed excitement for and increased visibility of transfer research, by showcasing and aggregating leading-edge research from the transfer research community. This book also helps to establish transfer as a sub-field of research within mathematics education and extends and refines alternate perspectives on the transfer of learning. The book provides an overview of current knowledge in the field as well as informs future transfer research.
Bringing together leading thinkers from both sides of the hotly debated controversy about constructivist approaches to instruction, this book presents the evidence for and against constructivism and detailed views from both sides of the controversy. A distinctive feature is the dialogue built into it between the different positions.
