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When I think back about different learning experiences I have, one comes to mind.. learning to dive into water. Surprisingly, this wasn't that long ago. I am sure I was "taught" how to dive in numerous swim lessons, but for some reason, I only came away with knowing how to swim, but not how to dive properly into water. I first took swim lessons back when I was a young child and learned how to swim. From then on, I never would dive into a pool or lake, I would jump in! CANNON BALL! In my undergrad about 10 years ago, I took an intermediate swimming class as an elective. I was so excited... until it came to the day we practiced diving. The instructor went over the basics of diving, how to set up and what to do as you jump towards the water. I have always done well with memorizing, but when it came down to executing the dive, it just wasn't happening... BELLY FLOP!
In Chapter 3, Bransford writes, "Transfer is affected by the degree to which people learn with understanding rather than merely memorize sets of facts or follow a fixed set of procedures," (55). In my situation, I was relying on memorizing the steps to dive, which affected the actual transfer of knowledge into doing it. The other factor making this learning difficult was having to perform something in front of 25 other students in my class. Normally, I am happy to speak up in class, but to do something out of my comfort zone in front of others who ARE getting it, was very defeating. I laughed along with them and even took some of their tips.

Here is where the REAL learning took place... at my aunt's pool. A few years later, (yes, years) I decided to try to dive again. I didn't even try to remember the "formula" for a perfect dive. I just knew I needed to have my hands enter first and to swing my legs back. What it took was PRACTICE... and no one watching. A few pieces of Chapter 3 really highlight this experience for me. "Providing students with opportunities to first grapple with specific information relevant to a topic has been shown to create a “time for telling” that enables them to learn much more from an organizing lecture," (58). I needed to grabble with how my body could dive, not just the standard way.
I did have intrinsic motivation to learn how to dive. This definitely helped me. I wanted to do it for myself, but also to PROVE to my 4 snarky brothers that I COULD dive as a 24 year old then. Bransford writes how motivation can stem from knowing you get to share something with others (61). I felt that with this experience.

Overall,  this chapter aligned well with my ideas of how a person can learn something new, even if it is challenging at first. As a teacher, it is important to keep these things in mind and remember that each person learns in their own ways, and it may not be the same every time.
References:

Bransford, J., Brown, A. & Cocking, R. (Eds.) (2000).  How people learn: Brain, mind,

experience, and school. Washington, D.C: National Research Council: Committee on

Developments in Science of Learning. National Academy Press.

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After reading chapter three, I agreed that I hope most students are able to transfer their knowledge and skills to other learning experiences in life. For example, if students learn context  clues or critical reading skills such as reading between the lines in English class, then it can make other subjects such as mathematics or science much easier to understand. However, it did not occur to me that “knowledge that is overly contextualized can reduce transfer; abstract representations of knowledge can help promote transfer” (Bransford, 2000, p. 53).

When I read this quote, I immediately thought of the writing process my school district encourages us teachers to promote in class. Students are expected to follow a certain sentence stem when creating thesis statements. For instance, “The ___ is important because ___ and ___.” so the process is contextualized to a specific process that students may not comprehend how to write in another experience without using these sentence stems. In other words, this process is specifically for 9th grade; but what about the other grades and writing structures?

A learning experience I connected to this chapter was when I began learning Spanish at a young age. To this day, I sometimes jumble up words and meanings without thinking about it. A few Spanish words may intermingle with my daily vocabulary once in a while. Since I am fluent in the language, I am able to transfer learned skills from the process into learning another language, such as Portuguese. A close friend of mine was born and raised in Brazil, so I have been trying to learn how to speak Portuguese since it is very close to Spanish. However, it should be known that Spanish is not my native language; English is. Therefore, when I am learning the vowels or certain pronunciations, my brain is trying to contextualize the new information as if it were English and not Spanish. In other words, I may be fluent in Spanish but my language knowledge follows my native English language.

Transferring knowledge is more than just memorizing but actually learning the new set of rules in order to properly engrave that information into our brains. In essence, this has opened up my eyes when it comes to teaching. Abstract representations of knowledge can come off as vague on paper but promote better transfer of information in learners.

References

Bransford, J., Brown, A. & Cocking, R. (Eds.) (2000).  How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C: National Research Council: Committee on Developments in Science of Learning. National Academy Press.

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Hi everyone!

I really enjoyed reading Bransford’s thoughts on learning and transfer.

It was so informative and I really took away many new concepts that I will definitely be applying them to my own teaching. I also was able to connect some chapter thoughts to our curriculum and culture class I am also taking this term. For example I found a section of this chapter on Transfer and Cultural Practices particularly interesting (Bransford, 2000, p. 71-73). A quote that stood out to me form this section was, “ Prior knowledge also includes the kind of knowledge that learners acquire because of their social roles, such as those connected with race, class, gender, and their culture and ethnic affiliations (Brice-Heath, 1981, 1983; Lave, 1988; Moll and Whitmore, 1993; Moll et al., 1993–1998; Rogoff, 1990, 1998; Saxe, 1990). This cultural knowledge can sometimes support and sometimes conflict with children’s learning in schools (Greenfield and Suzuki, 1998); see Box 3.9. Everyday family habits and rituals can either be reinforced or ignored in schools, and they can produce different responses from teachers (Heath, 1983)” (Bransford, 2000, p. 71).  This made me have a connection to the other curriculum class I am taking this term because this week we read about parent involvement in school. It made me think about I always like to access my students prior knowledge before starting a new topic in any subject. What this chapter mentioned about how students may know many things because they have either traveled too many places, their parents talk to them about specific things or have had more experiences than other students. This is so true, this year I had a student who amazed me so much because he was a student who would always bring new information to the class and would always have examples and experiences about almost every topic we discussed in class. I remember another student in my class telling him, “Well, I think L is so rich because he has traveled all over the world he knows so much”. It get us thinking us educators what can we do to enhance that all students are bringing to the table their own personal, cultural, traditions, family activities etc examples to certain discussion topics we have in class?

A personal learning experience I ad that connected to this chapter was on the learning something new project we are working on this term. I feel that I am more motivated if I know I will get a positive outcome and that people will enjoy what I am making for them to eat. Bransford mentions, “ Learners of all ages are more motivated when they can see the usefulness of what they are learning and when they can use that information to do something that has an impact on others— especially their local community (McCombs, 1996; Pintrich and Schunk, 1996)” (Bransford, 2000, p. 61).

References:

Bransford, J., Brown, A. & Cocking, R. (Eds.) (2000).  How people learn: Brain, mind,

experience, and school. Washington, D.C: National Research Council: Committee on

Developments in Science of Learning. National Academy Press.

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I can relate many of my personal school learning experiences to the ideas Bransford presented in this chapter. Particular subjects like math and social studies were often taught to me in an isolated style that allowed me to memorize enough information to pass a multiple choice test. Then *poof* the information I had memorized would be irrelevant and disappear. I think part of my personal struggle as a learner in these subjects is that there was not enough natural motivation or interest for me to dig into these subjects at a deeper level. Bransford stated; “Learners of all ages are more motivated when they can see the usefulness of what they are learning and when they can use that information to do something that has an impact on others—especially their local community” (2000, p. 61). As a teacher, I need to strive to make these motivating connections with my students and be able to show my students why the content matters. A more recent and successful learning experience of my own can be seen through my ability to maintain and grow houseplants. When I first began my houseplant journey, I was seeking advice from my friends, books, and blogs for a secret care formula to ensure that my plants will never die. However, such a method doesn’t exist, and I kept running into the same advice on how to “read” your plants' needs. I had to extend my learning process by applying the information I’ve gathered. I could relate to Bransford's claim that learning can successfully transfer when, “knowledge representations are built up through many opportunities for observing similarities and differences across diverse events” (2000, p. 65). After observing many plants suffer, I figured out how to identify the needs of a variety and plants and keep them alive and healthy.

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Every time I think about learning and transferring new information I think about language and translating. As a bilingual student myself I have learned many strategies to be able to learn a new concept by translating it to my first language. Then by translating it to my first language I am able to understand the meeting of the concept and start making connections. This is what I think about when it comes to learning a new subject and connecting with what we already know about the topic. The connection I made with chapter 3 was on this quote: “Transfer is affected by the degree to which people learn with understanding rather than merely memorize sets of facts or follow a fixed set of procedures;” (Bransford, 2000, p. 54)
When I transfer new learning I need to be able to understand what it is rather than just memorizing the topic. This reminds me of when I used to work in the special education classroom. Then when I was interpreting for the parents during the IEP (Individualized Education Plan) the teachers and specialists were using acronyms like SPED, IEP, ADHD. Sometimes the parents would ask me what it stands for. I was just interpreting back and for so I didn’t have to describe it. However, my job wasn’t to explain what it was but to say it the right way for the other person. Then in order for me to be able to translate it, I had to be able to know the vocabulary in Spanish and the meeting. As Bransford said we must learn with understanding and not just memorizing because we won’t be able to make new connections to what we learned. Additionally, my takeaway from this is that it is very important for us as educators because we need to be able to teach so the students can learn and not just memorize something without understanding.

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“Without an adequate level of initial learning, transfer cannot be expected. This point seems obvious, but it is often overlooked” (Bransford, 2000, p. 53). Reading this chapter led me to reflect on what it was like being a new teacher. At the onset of my career, I did not have enough experience initially to fully understand how to help my students find value in what they were learning . One of the positive outcomes of CCSS has been learning to focus on standards in meaningful contexts instead of trying to fit them into units. As a primary teacher, I was initially bombarded with curriculum that was all tied to units, such as a gingerbread man unit. Although I do have some units that fit in well with the CCSS, for the most part, I have discovered better strategies to demonstrate to my students the value and application of what they are learning while diving deep into the priority standards.

“Different kinds of learning experiences can look equivalent when tests of learning focus solely on remembering (e.g., on the ability to repeat previously taught facts or procedures), but they can look quite different when tests of transfer are used. Some kinds of learning experiences result in effective memory but poor transfer; others produce effective memory plus positive transfer” (p. 51). During my second year of teaching I had the opportunity to participate in professional development on implementing the workshop model in the classroom. That training completely transformed my approach to teaching. Similar to the study Bransford shared on page 56 about the children being divided into two groups for underwater dart throwing, once I had the instruction I needed to better understand how to teach, I was able to adjust my practices to provide my students with opportunities to have authentic ownership over their learning. The use of the workshop model led to me facilitating students being able to transfer the knowledge they were learning to more meaningful and complex activities. In addition, because the workshop model is learner-centered, it supported me with finding the right balance that Bransford touched upon on page 61, “Challenges, however, must be at the proper level of difficulty in order to be and to remain motivating: tasks that are too easy become boring; tasks that are too difficult cause frustration. In addition, learners’ tendencies to persist in the face of difficulty are strongly affected by whether they are “performance oriented” or “learning oriented” (Dweck, 1989).”

Bransford, J., Brown, A. & Cocking, R. (Eds.) (2000).  How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C: National Research Council: Committee on Developments in Science of Learning. National Academy Press.

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This chapter 3, on Learning and Transfer, brought back many scenarios of transfer of learning. I can think of many examples, one that comes to mind is that of a student I had in six grade. This particular student's parents are from the Fiji islands, and he spoke English, his native tongue from Fiji and Spanish because he has been in the Spanish Dual Language Program since Kindergarten. This student was the only one in his family who spoke and understood Spanish. The student's family took a vacation to one of the resorts in Mexico. When we had our parent conferences, his parents were sharing with me how their son was using his Spanish to communicate with the Mexican staff at the resort, and this made things go much smoother during their family vacation.

This scenario ties to Bransford's quote, "Time spent learning for understanding has different consequences for transfer than time spent simply memorizing facts or procedures from textbooks or lecturers."  What an amazing opportunity that my student had to travel to a Spanish speaking country and put into practice his Spanish that he has been learning since Kindergarten. Of course, it is not necessary to travel to a Spanish speaking country to practice your Spanish. One can practice their Spanish at their local Mexican restaurant by interacting with the staff, or grocery shopping at a Mexican meat market and speaking solely in Spanish with the employees. There are many local opportunities to transfer your learning.

As teachers we have many opportunities to transfer our learning, because we have to teach to students what we learned. This school year I taught 5th grade Math, and I taught fractions (adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing). First we teach the students how to solve the arithmetic of fractions, after some drill and kill, we then get into problem solving fractions. This brings a new perspective to the students as they are able to see the big picture, and the importance of learning how to solve fractions.

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This particular chapter was insightful as it tied together the core connections of motivations, transference of ideas, prior knowledge, and misconceptions. I found this to be interesting when reading because it was something that when teaching I am constantly checking for understanding to see if I potentially have mistaken something to my students- or potentially need to see if my students need a moment to get  word in for a question where they might have missed a connection. One of the quotes that stood out to me was when Bransford was discussing the proper time to learn and stated, “Attempts to cover too many topics too quickly may hinder learning and subsequent transfer because students (a) learn only isolated sets of facts that are not organized and connected or 9B) are introduced to organizing principles that they cannot grasp because they lack enough specific knowledge to make them meaningful.” (page 58) This was powerful because in teaching Social Studies if students do not have a meaningful understanding of the topic at hand or a connection to the past lesson/concept they will not be able to encode the lesson into long-term memory.

The other section that stood out to me was the cultural learning section- which I had a learning experience similar to the teacher of the young African American student who did not know what pumpkin pie was- I had a student who did not know what a skyscraper was because I had been teaching close to the Navajo Reservation in Flagstaff, AZ. In this situation instead of having an art lesson, I felt like I had isolated the student and took the student away from the lesson. Thankfully, many other students in the classroom were able to assist- but the interpretations and descriptions were far more imaginative; I believe “large mountain, glass, scary, and grey,” were all used to describe a skyscraper.

Bransford, J., Brown, A. & Cocking, R. (Eds.) (2000).  How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C: National Research Council: Committee on Developments in Science of Learning. National Academy Press.

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This chapter was so helpful in understanding why it can be difficult to bridge the gap between learning and application! On the first page of the chapter, the authors point out something that I think is incredibly important. They said that "Different kinds of learning experiences can look equivalent when tests of learning focus solely on remembering" (page 51). This made me think of the way that I was taught multiplication. It was based solely on memorization. It is possible that my teacher explained further and that I just don't remember, but what I know for sure is that I didn't understand multiplication on a concrete level until much later in my schooling. However, I'm good at memorizing things, so if you had given me a multiplication facts test, I would've passed it with flying colors! But - if you had asked me to draw a model or explain how multiplication related to addition, I would've been stuck. I am glad that we teach math the way we do now. Most of my fourth graders did not have all of their multiplication facts memorized at the end of the school year, but almost all of them could've solved a multiplication problem in at least 2 ways, including drawing a concrete model to represent the problem.
Another thing that stood out to me is the idea of "learning oriented" versus "performance oriented" (page 61). I hadn't thought of learning in quite this way, but it aligns with what I know about growth mindset. In my example about learning multiplication, I was definitely more performance oriented. I remember being so proud every time I passed a multiplication test and pretty devastated when I didn't.
When speaking about metacognition, the authors contended that "modeling, scaffolding, and taking turns" (page 67) can help students become more self-regulated learners. On page 68, they say, "Gradually, students come to ask self-regulatory questions themselves as the teacher fades out." This stood out to me because I think this is so important. Part of our job as teachers is not just to teach content but to teach strategies so our students can be more self-directed learners. It's important for our students to be able to self-monitor as well as know what to do when they are stuck. I think that having these metacognitive tools in their back pockets creates good learning conditions for students to be able to practice and extend their learning.

Bransford, J., Brown, A. & Cocking, R. (Eds.) (2000).  How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C: National Research Council: Committee on Developments in Science of Learning. National Academy Press.

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When I think about learning and transferring knowledge I think about the stark difference in the learning I experienced in high school versus community college level. In high school we were frequently asked to simply regurgitate what we learned in the classroom with little interest in using these skills to problem solve - with the exception potentially being math. I found this to be frustrating as I struggled to memorize facts and effectively put them to use in a testing situation. My memory issues coincided with my text anxiety, meaning much of the information I learned in high school is lost to the void in my brain. I did not effectively transfer significant information in my high school years as I didn’t actually understand much of what I was being taught.

That being said, I was pleasantly surprised to find that college classes frequently taught the why on a topic and gave us strategies to use to solve these problems. As I was reading chapter three, I was struck by one quote: “Learners, especially in school settings, are often faced with tasks that do not have apparent meaning or logic.” (p.58) This particular quote struck me as I have always asked myself, “why is this important to learn?” when in high school and would just get the answer of “for the test”. I find this to be frustrating even now as a teacher. How can I expect my students to effectively learn and transfer their knowledge for future use if they don’t know why they are learning a topic?

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After reading chapter 3, there were so many connections that I made. My first thoughts were on my own elementary, middle and high school experiences. What I remember most is learning for memorization. I would learn something, a concept, math strategy, ect and take the test then immediately forget it. Unless… I could apply it. Transferring of learning is a critical part of learning for growth instead of learning for a test. If I could go back and talk to my middle and high school self- I would tell myself to dive into the concepts that I liked, to investigate and learn something for myself instead of just trying to pass with an A. I wish my teachers back then had tried to engage my previous learning, Bransford states, “The principle that people learn by using what they know to construct new understandings can be paraphrased as “all learning involves transfer from previous experiences” (PG 68). For me, I cannot remember teachers trying to engage in previous learning unless they did a survey or ‘pre-test’ of sorts, but then it just all went the same anyways. Bugt maybe there was a method to what they did. I am no secondary level teacher!

My take away for my own teaching was the concepts of graduated prompting. My team and I are always talking about what level of prompting we are using for students and trying our hardest to engage students in areas where no prompting is needed (hence all of our IEP goals for adaptive, social or behavioral skills have prompting limits).  Bransford states, “An especially sensitive way to assess the degree to which students’ learning has prepared them for transfer is to use methods of dynamic assessment, such as “graduated prompting”. This method can be used to assess the amount of help needed for transfer by counting the number and types of prompts that are necessary before students are able to transfer” (pg 66). Indeed for some students they become heavily dependent on prompting from adults. Some of these prompts are so subconscious that we have to do serious training on how to not subconsciously prompt students. And when I am teaching academic concepts, I try to facilitate different learning styles and experiences for students based on their disability, learning preferences, and previous knowledge.

Bransford, J., Brown, A. & Cocking, R. (Eds.) (2000).  How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C: National Research Council: Committee on Developments in Science of Learning. National Academy Press.

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I've been learning Japanese for a few years now and it always fascinates me the way in which learning another language apart from your countries main language affects your speech, retention, and understanding of communication. Last year I learned the characters for hiragana and katana using mnemonic system. It's really helpful for retention because the characters can look like certain objects or shapes that help you to remember the pronunciation for that character. After taking the verywellmind, What kind of Intelligence do you have?, I knew I would get a visual spatial intelligence. However, I agreed with Husmann from The Atlantic Article, The Myth of Learning Styles in that it's a reflective exercise but that category of learning styles doesn't always hold up. Learning Hiragana and Katakana using mnemonics was a great way for me to remember them however, that same way of studying won't be beneficial to me when learning the majority of Kanji because it would be too complex. Kanji is made up of radicals which in short are the letters (radical) in the word (kanji). I cannot always learn using visuals because it a) won't always help me but also b) traps me in a learning style that will hinder my auditory learning which is key to become fluent in Japanese.

I thought this quote by Bransford illustrated the issue of just memorizing based on visuals that I face when learning Japanese, "We noted that the ability to remember properties of veins and arteries (e.g., that arteries are thicker than veins, more elastic, and carry blood from the heart) is not the same as understanding why they have particular properties. The ability to understand becomes important for transfer problems, such as: “Imagine trying to design an artificial artery. Would it have to be elastic? Why or why not?” Students who only memorize facts have little basis for approaching this kind of problem solving task." (Bransford pg. 56) For me, understanding why a particle is used instead of another becomes the difference between just remembering them and creating sentences based on my understanding of them. There aren't many Japanese words that are close enough to English to help me remember them aside from katakana characters which are mostly created from foreign words. I have to recognize that there are certain radicals that will always be used in a word or at least frequent a word to help give me a clue as to the kanjis meaning. "Much of this time involves the development of pattern recognition skills that support the fluent identification of meaningful patterns of information plus knowledge of their implications for future outcomes." (Bransford pg. 56)

In the example of a VARK question as well as in the verywellmind survey the questions asked are also a little too streamlined. The way I would respond to some of the questions depends on my day, who I'm with and what else I have to do that day. It won't always be the same answer or there's not even an answer I would actually do/choose it's just the closest. I think this is similar to learning styles, they're more fluid too in that it won't always be the same learning style that helps me study, learn and eventually become more of an expert in that field.

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A recent personal learning experience that comes to mind for me when thinking about learning and transfer as discussed in chapter 3 of the Bransford reading, is downhill skiing.  This past year I began downhill skiing again after 20 years of not skiing.  For this giant personal endeavor to happen for me, I first and foremost needed to tap into my personal motivation to want to ski.  On page 60, Bransford states that, “Motivation affects the amount of time that people are willing to devote to learning”, this directly relates to my experience this past winter with skiing.  I was so motivated to ski that I dedicated time every week to work to make it happen.  With the crazy schedules that this pandemic threw at our lives, I felt a bit of freedom to throw the status cou of the standard weekly school/work family life schedule to the wind and head to the mountain.  I love snow, I love mountains, and I love having fun.  I was scared to try to ski again, (what if i forgot how?) but because I was motivated to ski I worked hard to do so in spite of my fears.  I spent time preparing for skiing by scrounging around for used ski gear, I spent hours planning trips to the mountains and coordinating these trips with others.  I spent my evenings finding ski ticket deals, searching weather and condition reports, buying parking passes, trying on snow pants, washing ski socks, and packing/unpacking the car.  Skiing became a focus for me because I was motivated to get outside and enjoy the snowy mountain with my family and friends.

I was able to learn how to ski again by focusing on the subject and figuring out which tool in my tool box worked best for this learning transfer to happen.  Khazan, in the Myth of Learning Styles, touches on the idea that everyone has multiple tools (or styles of learning) at their disposal, and that we simply need to pick which one works best for the task at hand.  I choose to watch youtube videos to learn new information and practice putting that information to use by repeatedly heading out to ski.  I tried to teach my own young kids how to ski and in fact learned from them how not to let my fears take the lead, and embrace going faster.  And, I encouraged others to join me on the mountain to learn from each other collaboratively to support my learning.

Bransford, J., Brown, A. & Cocking, R. (Eds.) (2000).  How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C: National Research Council: Committee on Developments in Science of Learning. National Academy Press.

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Reading Bransfords chapter 3 I had a lot of connections! This chapter had a lot of really good information that I was able to relate to both me as a student and me as a teacher.

As a student doing my undergrad I remember comparing my educational journey to my friends that were not education majors. The way our classes were set up and the way we were assessed were VERY different. I also remember many of my non-education friends telling me that they never learn anything from their classes. This chapter made me think back to this, and I realized that it was because the transfer of learning was so different. In education courses we had many hands-on assignments and choices for assessments. In many of my courses we were required to do volunteer hours in a classroom and actually put what we were learning into practice. My most valuable learning experiences were through my student teaching because I was able to transfer what I learned in my courses into my teaching. This helped with the learning transfer between school and (future) workplace. Bransford writes “Educators hope that students will transfer learning from one problem to another within a course, from one year in school to another, between school and home, and from school to workplace.” (pg. 51). My non-education friends often complained about closed notebook tests and long lectures that meant nothing to them. I believed that this decreased the transfer of learning for them which is not the goal of education.

While reading this chapter I also made many connections to teaching. I believe that as teachers it is so important that we provide our students with many opportunities to transfer what they have learned to their personal life, their home, and eventually their workplace. It is also important to allow students to show us their transfer of learning in more than one way. We all know that not all students learn the same way, and not all students show their learning the same way. I also really liked when the chapter talked about allowing students to have time to process their learning in order to transfer it. In teaching it is always on to the next standard with no time for reflection. This was a good reminder to slow down and allow the time needed for processing.

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Learning how to draw from observation is probably the most challenged I have ever felt in a classroom.  I chose music in middle school and was in the marching band through twelfth grade, so I didn’t take a real art class on observational drawing until I was 25 years old, which happened to be my freshman year of college.  In the drawing class, I looked across at the elaborately arranged structure of objects piled high together.  I looked at them.  I looked at my paper.  I started drawing a guitar.  It started looking all wavy and wonky.  The arm was too long. I realize I was drawing how a guitar just felt when I was holding it or how the music felt when I listed to it!  My instructor walked around and would constantly have to correct me with things like, “Is that what you really see from here?” Now, the things I heard my instructor say to me in those days are things I’ve said to students a thousand times!  But back then, it was such a revelation.  “Draw what you see.  Not what you know.”  This chapter in Bransford’s book deals with transfer of knowledge, how it can help and even sometimes hurt when you are trying to learn something new (p.70).   In my case, and in almost every new art student trying to learn how to draw in perspective or more realistic, what we know about real life hurts how we learn to draw in this way.  Of course, when I’m letting students draw from imagination, that’s when I really love my work sometimes!  The line from page 70 that says, “Children’s interpretations of the new information are much different than what adults intend.”  I know that is not what Bransford means, but it made me think about how you just don’t know how kids are interpreting their own worlds sometimes!   One thing to note is that on page 71, the author points out that because of students not always having the prior knowledge as an asset, “teaching by telling” is truly not the best method here.  My instructor didn’t just say try again, he gave me ways of looking and thinking, he demonstrated how he would do it, he showed me what to do.  Now when I teach students, I demonstrate, I walk around.  I give them real objects to look at, how they look when they are flat, etc. and we talk about the difference between what we already know about the object, how the object makes us feel, and what do our eyes see when we look at the object - how to force our eyes to just see the lines and shapes so that we can apply that concept to anything. 

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Learning how to draw from observation is probably the most challenged I have ever felt in a classroom.  I chose music in middle school and was in the marching band through twelfth grade, so I didn’t take a real art class on observational drawing until I was 25 years old, which happened to be my freshman year of college.  In the drawing class, I looked across at the elaborately arranged structure of objects piled high together.  I looked at them.  I looked at my paper.  I started drawing a guitar.  It started looking all wavy and wonky.  The arm was too long. I realize I was drawing how a guitar just felt when I was holding it or how the music felt when I listed to it!  My instructor walked around and would constantly have to correct me with things like, “Is that what you really see from here?” Now, the things I heard my instructor say to me in those days are things I’ve said to students a thousand times!  But back then, it was such a revelation.  “Draw what you see.  Not what you know.”  This chapter in Bransford’s book deals with transfer of knowledge, how it can help and even sometimes hurt when you are trying to learn something new (p.70).   In my case, and in almost every new art student trying to learn how to draw in perspective or more realistic, what we know about real life hurts how we learn to draw in this way.  Of course, when I’m letting students draw from imagination, that’s when I really love my work sometimes!  The line from page 70 that says, “Children’s interpretations of the new information are much different than what adults intend.”  I know that is not what Bransford means, but it made me think about how you just don’t know how kids are interpreting their own worlds sometimes!   One thing to note is that on page 71, the author points out that because of students not always having the prior knowledge as an asset, “teaching by telling” is truly not the best method here.  My instructor didn’t just say try again, he gave me ways of looking and thinking, he demonstrated how he would do it, he showed me what to do.  Now when I teach students, I demonstrate, I walk around.  I give them real objects to look at, how they look when they are flat, etc. and we talk about the difference between what we already know about the object, how the object makes us feel, and what do our eyes see when we look at the object - how to force our eyes to just see the lines and shapes so that we can apply that concept to anything. 

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Bransford, J., Brown, A. & Cocking, R. (Eds.) (2000).  How

people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C: National Research Council: Committee on Developments in Science of Learning. National Academy Press.

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I really enjoyed reading this chapter and was amazed by what I learned about the learning and transfer process. Transfer is an extremely important part of  a  student's educational journey, and important to teachers as well, as I'm sure we all hope to help our students extend their knowledge to different content areas and aspects of their personal life. Something that really stuck with me in the text was the fact that it is often overlooked that without adequate initial learning, transfer will be difficult. This statement ties into the next part the text which mentions, memorization versus understanding.  The ability to understand is what helps to transfer information, simply memorizing a fact will not contribute to the transfer of knowledge since there was little to gain.

The text also mentions learning-oriented vs. performance- oriented; or students who like new challenges vs. students who are worried about making mistakes. For my own personal learning, I can relate to both concepts I mentioned. In high school, I was very performance-oriented. I was way more concerned with getting a good grade and getting everything right than I was actually understanding a concept. For example, my way of getting everything right, was memorization, which I now know limited my ability to transfer information. For example, I would memorize a mathematical formula, rather than take the time to understand why a formula works. Now as I am an educator, it is obvious to me that I should have taken the time to understand the concept, which is more important than the grade. I give my students ample time to explore concepts, and make their own meaning out of learning so they are able to see that understanding a concept is what's valuable, which will in turn lead to transfer.

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This was a thought-provoking chapter for me, and I took away some concepts that I’m interested in applying to my teaching. Specifically, I was intrigued by the concept of over-contextualization! I will definitely be using some of the suggestions on pages 62-63 about how to help students with flexibility and transfer while problem solving.

For my own personal learning experience, the concept of being learning-oriented or performance-oriented rang true for me. I teach growth mindset to my kids, laud the usefulness of mistakes, and talk about the value of time and practice. However, when it comes to myself as a learner, I am often so performance-oriented! Even though I consciously know the value of practice and mistakes, I expect myself to learn quickly and make very few mistakes. I especially appreciated the idea that people can be learning-oriented or performance-oriented depending on what content or skill they are learning! I am definitely that way- for example, I am more learning-oriented when it comes to physical activities like yoga or rock climbing. Those are 2 activities I’ve learned in adulthood, and I was able to be gentle with myself, have patience, and appreciate mistakes. However, when it comes to art, video games, or anything that is more mental or creative, I am very performance-oriented. I expect myself to be very good very quickly! Connecting these different attitudes within myself might even help me to figure out how I can shift my learning-oriented mindset to the areas I currently approach with a performance orientation. I'm also curious about how many of the other aspects of learning and transfer- motivation, social, prior experiences, culture, and more- might impact why I am more learning-oriented in some areas and performance-oriented in others. It is fascinating to learn all of this and ponder how they all affect each other!

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This chapter was very interesting and informative as a teacher. I strongly agree with Bransford in that the “ultimate goal of schooling is for students to be able to transfer their knowledge into real-life situations”. I think it is often easy to forget this when in the classroom teaching standards. I teach 1st grade and sometimes I do forget this notion especially when we are nearing the end of a unit or quarter. Unfortunately, this is due to the demands and pressures of assessment. But according to Bransford, it is not enough to assess memorized knowledge if we are trying to evaluate how effective our instruction is.

In order to facilitate successful instruction and learning, we need to engage/motivate students, connect to prior knowledge, provide immediate feedback, teach metacognitive thinking strategies (self-monitoring/assessing), provide opportunities for students to use their new skills , teach in multiple contexts and incorporate the students’ cultural identity into our instruction. If we can strive to use these strategies in our everyday teaching, then we can successfully facilitate students' ability to transfer their knowledge outside of the classroom.

When thinking about this chapter and how we can transfer our skills into multiple different contexts, I remember the time I learned how to drive. I had to learn using a manual transmission so it was extra difficult for me as a 17 year old to grasp the “rules of the road” and how to operate the vehicle. However, I had motivation and high engagement as I wanted to be able to have more freedom. I also engaged my prior knowledge of watching my family drive and reading the driving manuals. I was also provided immediate feedback every time I got behind the wheel, I was given many opportunities to practice my new skills before I was tested, and I was able to monitor my own learning and ask for help when I needed it. Due to these strategies that were given to me I was able to successfully transfer my knowledge and skills into driving any car, by myself, and in any context/location.

Bransford, J., Brown, A. & Cocking, R. (Eds.) (2000).  How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C: National Research Council: Committee on Developments in Science of Learning. National Academy Press.

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Transfer is an important part of the learning process that allows students to take what they have learned in specific situations and apply that knowledge more broadly (p.51). It indicates a higher level of understanding than if a person can only use their knowledge in the circumstances in which it was taught. It wasn’t until reading this chapter that I realized that this is something that I often strive for in my own learning experiences.

An example that comes to mind of transfer in my own education is when I first started learning French as a freshman in high school. Initially, my knowledge was quite limited and I could only speak in sentences formed by my teacher or the textbook. Our conversations would go like this: “Hello.” “Hi.” “How are you doing?” “I’m good, how are you?” “Not bad.” “Good bye.”  But knowing how to have this simple conversation didn’t mean I could transfer that knowledge to similar variations, like asking how someone’s day was going, or answering that I was having a bad day. Until my language skills hit a certain level of proficiency, they really weren’t transferable. I was just repeating memorized information in specific situations. But as my skills improved, I was able to take my increased vocabulary and knowledge of grammar structure and enter new types of conversations. Ones that I hadn’t rehearsed before or been given the answers to ahead of time.

This also makes me think of what we read in chapter 2 of the differences between novices and experts. When I first started learning new words in French, I would write out each word phonetically. I did not understand how the letters worked together to form sounds; the background knowledge I brought was based entirely around American-English. As I moved from novice to accomplished novice, the way I categorized my knowledge changed, as the authors described on pages 36-42. When I was still writing out the words phonetically, I just saw letters on a page arranged unfamiliar ways. But as I understood more about how French sounds are made, those letters took on new meanings for me. I didn’t need to write out that “eau” makes an “oh” sound every time it appeared on my page.  As I continued to practice, my mind went from needing to slowly sound out the words to "relatively effortless retrieval," or fluency (p.44), as I immediately understood what sounds the words in front of me should be making, or what the words meant.

Bransford, J., Brown, A. & Cocking, R. (Eds.) (2000).  How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C: National Research Council: Committee on Developments in Science of Learning. National Academy Press.

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In Chapter 3 of How People Learn by Bransford, the concept of learning and the transfer of learning was discussed. In this chapter, it is emphasized that we need to understand what we are learning  (not just memorize it), factor in the amount of time that it takes to learn something new, and the motivation it takes. In other words, give ourselves and others some grace when it comes to learning something new.

As educators, I believe that it is important to remember that providing students the opportunity to explore a topic and relevant information before digging deep, offers them the opportunity to get their feet wet and hit the ground running when the time comes. It gives them the opportunity to explore and think about other learning experiences in which they can transfer learning. We need to teach students how to transfer learning for the reason that it is a choice. Bransford stated “It is important to view transfer as a dynamic process that requires learners to actively choose and evaluate strategies, consider resources, and receive feedback” (p.66). This quote encourages choice, the choice for students to apply the concept of transfer and learning. However, if we want students to actively choose, evaluate strategies, consider resources, and receive feedback, we need to teach them how.

A time in which I have experienced learning one thing and extending it to a new context was with knowing myself and needs to be in the right head space. I knew from an experience that in order to be healthy and take care of my body, I needed to apply myself, use motivation, and really work for it. However, I sort of “lost” myself becoming a new mom. I hit the point where I was ready to feel myself again, so I used my knowledge from understanding the importance of movement, healthy eating, and a routine to start feeling myself again. I was actively choosing, looking at strategies, considering my resources, and accepting feedback as I began this process.

Bransford, J., Brown, A. & Cocking, R. (Eds.) (2000).  How people learn: Brain, mind,

experience, and school. Washington, D.C: National Research Council: Committee on

Developments in Science of Learning. National Academy Press.

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This chapter really caught my eye and resonated with me. Two quotes in particular really initiated new thinking or validated my current beliefs in teaching. The first quote is found on page 53 “transfer could also be negative in the senes that experience with one set of events could hurt performance on related tasks.” This quote validated my thinking and beliefs in the fact that if a human has a negative experience, we tend to learn and want to avoid these negative experiences as much as possible. Therefore, it hurts us in the long run with any related ideas. For an example, I look back when I first tried tuna. I’m not sure exactly what happened, but I remember trying tuna and it didn’t sit well with me and i became sick. I honestly hav not had tuna since. The second quote that stuck with me is “although many people believe that ‘talent’ plays a role in who becomes an expert in a particular area, even seemingly talented individuals require a great deal of practice in order to develop their expertise (p. 58).” I think this quote brought some new insight to how I viewed talent before. Though in my mind I knew talent played a big role in expertise, this quote helped my understand that yes talent can help, but it is also practicing and continuing to learn about the expertise.

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One significant idea from the reading is that students who develop a deeper understanding of a topic are more likely to transfer knowledge to another area. The chapter explains that students shouldn’t just memorize something, they actually need to learn it (Bransford, 2000, p. 55). This deeper understanding of a topic requires that students spend a good amount of time on it. Students need to have the opportunity to recognize patterns and draw conclusions (Bransford, 2000, p. 56). Students must also have the foundational knowledge in order to develop this deeper understanding. In addition, a teacher can’t teach too many ideas at the same time (Bransford, 2000, p. 61). The chapter also explained that it is important for teachers to give students opportunities to apply their skills in a variety of different ways. In order for this to happen effectively teachers may need to explain to students how their skills can be applied in a different context (Bransford, 2000, p. 62). The chapter explains it can also be beneficial for students to take the time to think about themselves and their learning process (Bransford, 2000, p. 67) .

The chapter also discusses that students need to be motivated to learn. To keep students motivated teachers need to give them activities that are at the right difficulty level for them. In addition, students are motivated when they see how the knowledge can be applied to their lives (Bransford, 2000, p. 61). I know that I have seen this a lot in my teaching experiences as well.

This reading reminded me of my experience with math classes in high school. I was able to pass all my math classes but often did not get great test scores. I knew that I was just memorizing how to solve each kind of problem. This meant that I wasn’t able to flexibly apply the skills covered on tests or as we moved forward in the class. As mentioned in the chapter we read this really is not the best way to learn content. It was not until college when I took courses on how to teach math that I was able to develop a strong understanding of math topics and saw that I am “good at math”.

Reference
Bransford, J., Brown, A. & Cocking, R. (Eds.) (2000).  How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C: National Research Council: Committee on Developments in Science of Learning. National Academy Press. 52-70

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I found the portion of this chapter on understanding versus memorizing particularly interesting (Bransford, 2000, p. 55-56).  I have always been able to easily recall facts, song lyrics, steps in a process, definitions of vocabulary words, etc. relatively easily.  For many of my classes in high school, the assessments seemed to be based on memorization versus understanding of the concepts.  However, when I started taking AP classes as a junior and senior, understanding played a much more critical role in my learning.  One of the classes that was most difficult for me was AP comparative government.  Although I was easily able to recall the different structures of government, I had difficulty with being able to critically analyze the ways in which those structures were impacting the countries as a whole.

Another connection that I made to a learning experience was the importance of motivation on learning (Bransford, p. 60). As a child, I was never motivated to learn by extrinsic rewards. Start charts, clip charts, or the like would not have enticed me in the slightest. What did motivate me was the idea of being able to solve a problem or delve deeply into a topic I was interested in. The same is true for me as an adult learning. In addition to currently pursuing my Masters in Curriculum and Instruction, I am also working towards an Autism Spectrum Disorder Certificate.  Because I am working regularly with students on the spectrum and can immediately see the relevance and importance of what I am learning, I have found that I am learning new things relatively quickly through the coursework.  Because my learning has a direct impact on the quality of the educational experience of my students, I am incredibly motivated to learn.

References:

Bransford, J., Brown, A. & Cocking, R. (Eds.) (2000).  How people learn: Brain, mind,

experience, and school. Washington, D.C: National Research Council: Committee on

Developments in Science of Learning. National Academy Press.

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Like in Chapter 5, this chapter on learning and transfer brings a reminder that in order to achieve expert status for any skill, we must consistently learn to organize facts around general principles, instead of memorizing information. Growing up with two teachers as parents, I learned to be disciplined at school as well as completing work at home. I was typically a good student, and a rule-follower by nature in school. But when I got to college at Oregon State University, my most challenging course was not my highest level class, but a Physical Geology course I took my junior year. With my education degree, I had not had to take a science course up until this point and was required to take a class not at the introductory level but at a medium-level. I had the hardest time memorizing types of tectonic processes and their influence on mountains, volcanoes, earthquakes, minerals, and rocks. I was really surprised that my love for hiking and nature had not led to learning transfer that term. Bransford’s conclusion in Chapter 3 summarizes how abstract learning in schools is overpowering contextualized learning in our communities. My professor at OSU only taught a 200-student lecture with our multiple-choice scantron midterm and final making up one third of our grade. While I am a self-motivated learner, I was so overwhelmed by the amount of content (rocks, minerals, etc.) that I sought out to memorize facts, with little basis for problem-solving tasks. Soon after, I forgot most of what I learned even though I frequently hike around Mt. Hood in the Cascade Mountain Range I had studied. If I needed any further convincing, I took the VeryWellMind Intelligence quiz where I scored that I am a bodily-kinesthetic learner. I think it’s important to consider the learning styles of our students and provide flexibility for them to model their transfer of learning. With the opportunity for creating something hands-on and remembering by doing, rather than seeing/hearing for my assessment, I may have been able to demonstrate my learning successfully too.

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L. Johnson - WRR3 - "Feedback has long been identified as important for successful learning (see, e.g., Thorndike, 1913), but it should not be regarded as a unidimensional concept" (page 59).

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L. Johnson - WRR3 - "Feedback has long been identified as important for successful learning (see, e.g., Thorndike, 1913), but it should not be regarded as a unidimensional concept" (page 59).

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I resonated with the time to practice section of this reading; it really makes a difference for students when they are being monitored actively by the teacher and can ask questions without fear of judgement for their lack of understanding.  When I first started teaching math, I noticed that many of the students did not expect to receive their assessment scores until a few days or even a week after they had taken them/it.  In every school I have taught, the one thing the students have commented on is my ability to give them feedback in a timely fashion. I take great pride in this because I think it is fundamental for their growth. I put a LOT of effort into grading tests (no matter the length of them) and returning it to the students the day after they take it and they are so grateful to see how they performed immediately. I am working now on ways to give daily feedback to the students about how they are performing in skill based topics.

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Hi Everybody,

One of the things that stood out to me was on page 53 when Bransford talked about mastery of the original subject. He says, “Without an adequate level of initial learning, the transfer cannot be expected. This point seems obvious but is often overlooked” (p. 53). In my first year of teaching, I taught charter school. The expectation was that 85% of my students would get 90% or higher on a lesson. Those numbers represented mastery of the lesson. If the students were not at “mastery” then, I would have to reteach the previous lesson. If 85% of my students did not get 90% or higher on a test, I had to reteach the previous ten lessons before moving on. There were so many times when I wanted to just move on, out of pressure to get behind. What I found was when I wasn’t at mastery, and I took the time to reteach it, the students were more successful in the future lessons. This is because new material builds on previous material. If students cannot master a vital concept or skill, they will inevitably have difficulty when that same concept/skill is used in the future to be built upon.

On pages 55-56, Bransford talked about the difference between understanding and memorizing.  Going back to my experience at charter, I was expected to teach towards the test. Students practiced rote memorization. For example, I would say, ‘Everybody, 5+3=8. What is 5+3?”. They would respond with the answer. The issue with this, though, was when I would use mathematical words. The curriculum explicitly told me to use the term “greater than” when teaching inequalities. By mistake, I interchangeably used the term “more than” for which the students looked at me with blank stares, because they had no idea that more than was synonymous with more than.  While I think that rote memorization can be beneficial in some areas, such as mathematical facts, I agree with Bransford that explicitly teaching rote memorization yields students who “have little basis for approaching this kind of problem-solving task” (p.56).

As in my example, my students had no idea how to answer a question about “more than” because they had a memorized definition of solving inequalities. I think there’s a heightened importance in using hands-on approaches and providing multiple opportunities to learn and express understanding of a new skill/concept to Bransford’s point.  This reminds me of Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. Teachers can use multiple intelligences in the classroom by customizing lessons and assignments for these multiple intelligences. In doing so, students have a deeper level of understanding that stems far beyond memorization.

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I really enjoyed Bransford’s thoughts on learning and transfer because it’s completely accurate in my experience. An example of this would be the linguistics classes I took during undergrad. The study of linguistics is definitely abstract; much like the problem proposed by Searle (Willingham 2009), just because someone can get the “correct” answer doesn’t mean they actually understand the function or structure of language. However, everyone has their own internal grammar, so it’s really just a matter of connecting what you subconsciously know with the rules being defined. Like what Bransford mentioned, overly contextualized rules make the study of linguistics difficult, but as Willingham states, concrete examples that we’re familiar with can help. The quote “Understanding is remembering in disguise” (Willingham 2009) is perfect for my experience with linguistics. I knew the rules, I could notice when something did or didn’t sound right, but I didn’t have the language to explain it. I needed to develop the abstract understanding of the English language to explain the concrete examples I understood. Additionally, there is no “product” when it comes to linguistics; there’s no end goal of understanding everything there is to know about language, because language is constantly evolving and the rules change with user need. In other words, there is constant transfer based on the previous learning that occurred.

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One learning experience I had that tied in with my anatomy and physiology background was learning correct weight lifting. About five years ago, I decided I needed something to keep me active and in good shape now being in my 30's. I started following YouTube tutorials with a set of interchangeable Bowflex dumbbells. Then I met my husband who used to be a personal trainer, is a nutrition coach, and powerlifter. I just thought if I ate “healthy” and lifted weights I could get my body toned. He taught me so much about compound movements, such as deadlifts, that work multiple muscle groups, and the importance of muscle group isolation along with pairing cardio and macros for weight loss. This all brought me back to my background of anatomy and physiology and remembering which muscles enact which motions (push, pull, squat, etc). Truly learning something means you can apply it, not just know it (Bransford et al., 2000, p. 55). I felt that I finally could put my memorization of A&P to good use!

“For example, learning is most effective when people engage in “deliberate practice” that includes active monitoring of one’s learning experiences. Monitoring involves attempts to seek and use feedback about one’s progress” (Bransford et al., 2000, p. 58-59). This was possible for me by gaining feedback from my husband. Confirming not only having correct form when working out, but confirming my understanding for workout splits. By this I could choose appropriate exercises for a Monday leg day, Tuesday back and biceps, and Wednesday chest and triceps, and so on.

I also felt fortunate that I had motivation to learn these new techniques. It is intimidating being a rookie in the gym, but I knew I wanted to learn and improve. Bransford et al. mentions that the level of motivation can influence time spent during learning (2000, p. 60). Getting up at 4 am to head to gym before work was definitely all motivation! Even working out after work was time spent on it, which is more my routine these days. I think that we have a difficult time learning something that we can’t apply or find useful in our everyday lives. And if we aren’t invested or motivated, we don’t spend extra time other than the bare minimum to learn something. Do you think that motivation has a big role in learning something applicable to our lives?

Works Cited:

Bransford, J., Brown, A. & Cocking, R. (Eds.) (2000).  How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C: National Research Council: Committee on Developments in Science of Learning. National Academy Press.

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I have always believed that the best way to learn and be better at something is by being motivated. As a former basketball player, I had passion for the game of basketball and I spent countless hours on the court practicing different skills of my game. As the author claims: “Motivation affects the amount of time that people are willing to devote to learning”(p 60). I remember in one of my seasons around fifteen years ago, I was struggling with my shooting. My shooting percentage wasn’t where I wanted it to be, so I knew I had to get it fixed in order to help my team. This is why I asked one of my coaches for help. We decided to videotape my shooting mechanics and analyze it step by step. We realized that my shot was too flat due to the position of my wrist when releasing the ball. After this, my coach gave me a few tips to avoid that mistake and once again, I spent countless hours on the court trying to correct and learn the new mechanics. Thinking back, all this time that I spent practicing was because I just wanted to help my team. I was motivated to be able to help my teammates. Reading through Bransford Chapter 3 (p 61), the author mentions that: “Social opportunities also affect motivation. Feeling that one is contributing to others appears to be especially motivating”. This statement applies 100% to many of my professional and personal experiences. I really enjoy working with teams and it has always been a motivation for me. Consequently, I feel the desire to learn new things while working with other people.