Learner Generated Questions CH 8

Understand—How does transfer relate to problem solving and creativity?


Transfer, according to Ormrod, is  "phenomenon in which something a person has learned at one time affects how the person learns or performs in a later situation." Problem solving involves using existing knowledge to fix or address a situation. This is transfer in action; an individual must know information to be able to assist others. The difficulty of the problem does not matter because transfer will be occurring regardless. If a problem is easy it is a result of a positive transfer of information. On the other hand, when a problem is challenging or confusing, it may be a result of a negative transfer that is confusing the individual because they recalled the wrong type of information. Existing information is crucial in transfer because it is often a help to the learning process but in rare cases it can hinder later learning. Creativity utilizes transfer because it involves past knowledge or learned abilities. An example would be in a high school history class where a student is required to give a presentation on a historical figure; the students previous knowledge of a figure will allow him more self-efficacy and, in turn, he can take more risks in his presentation. This is because transfer through creativity is brought about by divergent thinking, a process that has many results coming from a similar starting point.



 Synthesizing/Creating—Write a story where students can easily use the covert strategy of identifying important information.

In a high school history class a teacher has a midterm coming up that is sure to evaluate many of the terms from the course. Instead of just telling the students what to study, the teacher provides an objective list before each lesson. In the objective list there are many boldface terms so they stand out to the students. This should encourage them to take more notes about these terms and pay more attention when reviewing that term or figure. Another great option would be to ask questions that relate to the more important terms in a lesson. These questions could be related to a specific topic but could encourage the students to form a visual image of what it going on with the term. Ormrod says that covert strategy is a "learning strategy that involves only mental activity...(e.g., forming a visual image of a concept).