Complete thesis - Murdoch University

(Salomon and Perkins, 1989), while the few theories dealing explicitly with transfer have thestatus of sets of hypotheses (some discussed in Detterman and Sternberg (1993)).The empirical evidence for the transferability of knowledge and skills to new task situations isvery mixed: while not claiming tranfer is impossible, studies such as that of Thorndike (1924)showed that certain specific kinds of instruction do not produce transfer (Simon, 1980). Aslate as 1993 Detterman (1993, p 15) notedin short, from studies that claim to show transfer and that don’t show transfer,there is no evidence to contradict Thorndike’s general conclusion: transfer is rare,and its likelihood of occurrence is directly related to the similarity between the twosituations.This is partly due to the historic focus on general transfer – abstract knowledge learnt in theclass (ie in a specific context) applied to a broad variety of other tasks (in as broad a varietyof contexts). More recently researchers have focussed on the importance of socioculturalcontext as an element of transfer (Brown et al, 1989) and caution that a holistic approach(task, learner and context) is advisable (Marini and Genereux, 1995).The level of transfer that can be achieved is debated. Clark and Voogel (1985) suggesta continuum from near (a great deal of similarity exists between training conditions andspontaneous use) to far. Conditions which make transfer possible include:• it requires that some of the processes or knowledge be essentially identical. The ‘recognitionof similarity’ seems to be a crucial issue, the ‘kick’ Detterman (1993) refers toin describing cases where transfer could be seen• to secure substantial transfer of skills students need to be made explicitly aware of theseskills, abstracted from their specific task content: a focus on the underlying principlesis necessary (Patry, 1998)• transfer is strongly influenced by mental modelling – prior models become interpretivestructures that, when inadequate, are flexibly used as the basis for transposed andelaborated structures to accommodate novel situations (Gott et al, 1993)• practise with adapting the skill in response to situational context (Patry, 1998) – thisis a process of ‘re-assembling’ knowledge gained (especially relevant in domains featuringill-structured problems) based on an understanding of individual style (implyingmetacognitive approaches) and an appreciation of the authenticity of the approach(implying peer/domain evaluation).131