Foreword The Educational Psychology Series is adding a new dimension to its col­ lection of edited volumes. Robert Haskell has authored an exciting new book that will appeal to the educator, to the researcher, and to anyone concerned with how we as human beings cope and adjust to our world. Transfer of Learn­ ing-. Cognition, Instruction, and Reasoning is a creative work with unlimited poten­ tial for impacting the way we view the learning process. Through a unique combination of academic scholarship and an engaging writing style, Robert has written a book that not only challenges current learning theory, but is in­ tuitively appealing to the casual observer of human behavior. Within psychology and education, transfer of learning has been one of the most enduring issues for scholars, researchers, and teachers. Though some academicians have suggested that "transfer is dead," Haskell has provided a frame of reference for a reconstruction of our view of transfer. This exciting new perspective of the transfer process will have an impact, similar to that of Howard Gardner's book Multiple Intelligences, on educational practices in the classroom. Gary D. Phue Series Editor xi Introduction When we have lived any time, and have been accustomed to the uniformity of nature, we acquire a general habit, by which we always transfer the known to the unknown, and conceive the latter to resemble the former. 1 —DAVID HUME, AM Essay Concerning Human Understanding Psychology's first general law should, I suggest, be a law of generalization. —ROGER N. SHEPARD2 Transfer of learning is our use of past learning when learning something new and the application of that learning to both similar and new situations. At first glance, it's very simple. Transfer of learning, however, is the very foun­ dation of learning, thinking, and problem solving. Despite the importance of transfer of learning, research findings over the past nine decades clearly show that as individuals, and as educational institutions, we have failed to achieve transfer of learning on any significant level. Time and again in the literature, beginning with the work of Edward Thorndike (1874-1949) in 1901 to the present, the verdict has been as Doug­ las Detterman observes: "If there is a general conclusion to be drawn from the research on transfer, it is that the lack of general transfer is pervasive and sur­ prisingly consistent."3 In the preface to their edited book, leaching for transfer,4 Ann McKeough, )udy Lupart, and Anthony Marini lament Transfer of learning is universally accepted as the ultimate aim of teaching. However, achieving this goal is one of teaching's most formidable problems. Researchers have been more successful in showing how people fail to transfer learning than they have been in producing it, and teachers and employers alike bemoan students' inability to use what they have learned.5 The implications of this general failure are serious not only for a society in­ creasingly dependent on what is called "knowledge workers," as opposed to xiii xiv Introduction skilled workers, but for the democratic process as well. The Founding Fathers of the U.S. Constitution understood that for a democracy to work well an in­ formed populace is required; the term informed includes the ability to think and reason well. Transfer of learning underlies the ability to think, reason, plan, and to make good decisions. So if this is the case, why write a book on transfer of learning? Is this book going to lament past failures, cry about our bleak future, or just offer a postgame motivational pep talk? The answer is no to all of these. In the foreword to a 1987 book, Edwin Fleishman states, "Given the cen- trality of the topic in so many areas of basic research and application, it is in­ deed surprising that there has been no comprehensive book on the subject."6 I think we now know more than enough to offer workable solutions to the transfer of learning problem. As two psychologists of a recent research-based and technical book on transfer of learning note, "It is especially timely to re­ vive interest in transfer now because detailed, comprehensive theories of skill acquisition now exist."7 Research data on transfer are now available and have awaited an appropriate compilation. Since the classic work of psychologist Edward Thorndike in 1901, interest in the subject has waned within the fields of psychology and education. How­ ever, there is now considerable rigorous psychological research on transfer, with most of the research coming from the fields of instructional and cogni­ tive psychology, the latter a subfield of psychology concerned with investi­ gating how we think, reason, and process information. Though it's generally agreed that transfer of learning is most elusive to demonstrate, it is, never­ theless, the key to all effective instruction and learning. For education to be effective, then, curricula must be designed with our eyes focused on transfer of learning, particularly for poorer students. For as Carl Bereiter observes "transfer is usually poorest with students who need it most."8 And I should add, they need it most because they are poorest at transfer. Although I do not intend to rediscover the transfer of learning wheel, I do intend to reinvent transfer of learning and revise what it means to think. I will show that the very structure of thinking and learning is transfer of learning by presenting a prescriptive theory of learning and instruction that opposes what many colleagues and the popular educational Zeitgeist believe to be true. By and large, the instructional Zeitgeist is to instill skills, techniques, and strategies. This approach to transfer of learning has not worked; indeed, it cannot work. There are no quick fixes. Although this is a how-to book for increasing transfer of learning, it is not a how-to book in the traditional sense. The book explains why the prevailing educational view of instruction emphasizing specific learning strategies and teaching techniques does not result in significant transfer. The book is a pre­ scriptive how-to book in providing eleven principles with their research- based justification. These principles must be fostered in the learner at least concurrently with the application of strategies and instructional techniques. Finally, this book is a necessary introduction to all instructional approaches and methods. Introduction XV In brief, then, this book suggests that in order to achieve significant transfer of learning, much more than the current approach to education, which empha­ sizes techniques and algorithmic-like learning strategies, is required. For signif­ icant learning and transfer to occur the following 11 principles are required: 1. Acquire a large primary knowledge base in the area in which transfer is required (see Chapter 7). 2. Acquire some level of knowledge base in subjects outside the prima­ ry area (see Chapter 7). 3. Understand what transfer of learning is and how it works. 4. Understand the history in the area(s) that transfer is wanted (see Chapter 5). 5. Acquire motivation, or more specifically, a "spirit of transfer" (see Chapter 8). 6. Develop an orientation to think and encode learning in transfer terms (see Chapters 7 and 8). 7. Create cultures of transfer or support systems (see Chapter 9). 8. Understand the theory underlying the area(s) in which we want to transfer (see Chapter 10). 9. Engage in hours of practice and drill (see Chapter 11 ). 10. Allow time for the learning to incubate. 11. Observe and read the works of people who are exemplars and masters of transfer thinking. At first glance, these 11 requirements for transfer of learning may not seem to say anything new, but the following chapters will show otherwise. These requirements constitute a general theory of transfer. Learning strategies alone will not suffice to ensure transfer. Strategies are, however, often im­ portant in augmenting transfer of learning. Learning strategies and heuristics constitute what I consider a special theory of transfer. The problem of achieving transfer of learning is both simple and complex. I don't intend to rail against the schools, teachers, and teaching methods. They are only a portion of a much larger and more fundamental set of prob­ lems. Other problems lie in our social values about the importance of edu­ cation and learning and what we expect and think is necessary for students to learn. As many have pointed out over the years, the United States has an ambivalent relationship with education and learning.9 We are an overly prag­ matic society requiring instant success: not a useful prescription for transfer of learning. The material in this book has been framed in terms of the classic label "trans­ fer of learning," instead of other labels often used or related to it. Transfer of learning cuts across all educational domains and methodologies. Although many educational approaches, for example, constructivism, imply some of the ideas and principles presented in this book, they don't address transfer of learning directly. As Manfred Prenzel and Heinz Mandl note in their excellent review, "When dealing with the question under which circumstances knowledge xvi Introduction is flexibly applicable, constructivists approach a typical problem of transfer 1 without, however, referring systematically to the concept of 'transfer'." 0 This book will not revisit material that most other books on learning have covered. It will be confined to learning as it directly pertains to transfer of learning, for it's through transfer of learning that we reach the very foundations of learning itself. Only those studies considered to be seminal and/or repre­ sentative of the relevant areas will be documented as part of this discussion. In order to lay a foundation for this approach to transfer, voluminous, com­ plex, and technical research findings had to be reviewed.