Transfer

Wiggins & McTighe (2005) define "transferability" as: The ability to use knowledge appropriately and fruitfully in a new or different context from that in which it was initially learned. For example, a student who understands the concept of “balanced diet” (based on the

USDA food pyramid guidelines) transfers that understanding by evaluating hypothetical diets for their nutritional values and by creating nutritional menus that meet the food pyramid recommendations.

Factors that are part of the initial learning and that impact transfer include (National Research Council, 2000):

*Understanding (rather than memorization)

*Time to learn (it is important to be realistic about the amount of time it takes to learn a complex skill or understand complex concepts)

*Deliberate practice (rather than "time on task")

*Motivation to learn

*Generalization (learner is required to speculate about how the specific skills or understandings relate to other contexts, and/or apply those skills to similar problems in different contexts)

Source:

National Research Council. (2000). Learning and transfer. In J. Bransford, A. Brown, & R. Cocking (Eds.), How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington DC: National Academies Press.

Wiggins, Grant; McTighe, Jay (2005). Understanding by Design, Expanded 2nd Edition (Page 352). Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.