“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. 

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. 

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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?

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. 

 

“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. 

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.

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.

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.