TRANSFER

How students think about and study school subject matter has implications not on
ly for how well they can understand and remember it but also
for how effectively they can use and apply it later on. Here were talking
about transfer: the extent to which knowledge and skills acquired in one
situation affect a persons learning or performance in a subsequent situation. Fol
lowing are examples:
Elena speaks both English and Spanish fluently. When she begins a
French course in high school, she immediately recognizes many similarities betwe
en French and Spanish. Aha, she thinks, what I know
about Spanish will help me learn French.
In her middle school history class, Stella discovers that she does better
on quizzes when she takes more notes. She decides to take more notes
in her science class as well, and once again the strategy pays off
Teds fifth-grade class has been working with decimals for several weeks. His teac
her asks,
Which number is larger, 4.4 or 4.14? Ted recalls something he knows about whole nu
mbers: Numbers with three digits are larger than numbers with only two digits. Th
larger
number is 4.14, he mistakenly concludes.
In most cases, prior learning helps learning or performance in another situation
. Such positive transfer takes place when Elenas Spanish helps her learn French a
nd when Stellas practice
with note taking in history class improves her performance in science class. In
some instances,
however, existing knowledge or skills hinder later learning. Such negative trans
fer is the case for
Ted, who transfers a principle related to whole numbers to a situation where it
doesnt apply:
comparing decimals.
Positive transfer to real-world tasks and problems should, of course, be a major
objective
for classrooms at all grade levels. Unfortunately, however, learners often dont a
pply school subject
matter to out-of-school situations because they dont retrieve it from long-term m
emory when it
might be useful. The next five principles capture many research findings regardi
ng when transfer
is and isnt likely to occur.
Meaningful learning and conceptual understanding increase the
probability of transfer.
Learners are much more likely to apply new knowledge and skills when they engage
in meaningful rather than rote learning. 53 Ideally, learners should acquire co
nceptual understanding of a topic,
such that many concepts and procedures are interrelated in a cohesive, logical w
hole (recall our
discussion of this concept in Chapter 2). When information and skills are approp
riately interconnected in long-term memory, learners are more likely to retrieve
them in relevant situations.
In general, then, the less-is-more principle introduced in Chapter 2 applies her
e: Learners
are more likely to transfer new knowledge and skills to new situationsincluding t
hose in the
think about it
Can you think of a recent situation in
which you exhibited positive transfer?
Can you think of one in which you
exhibited negative transfer?
For tonights homework assignment,
memorize all 50 states in the U.S.A.

in reverse alphabetical order.

Rote memorization tasks such as this one have little or no
benefit, because neither the information to be learned nor
the mental exercise involved is likely to transfer to future
situations. furthermore, such tasks communicate the message that schoolwork is a
waste of time.
outside worldwhen they study a few things in depth and learn them well, rather th
an studying
many topics superficially.54 In-depth instruction is especially effective when l
earners see many
examples of concepts and have many opportunities to apply skills to diverse situ
ations. In such
cases learners can connect their new knowledge to a wide variety of contexts, in
creasing the odds
that theyll retrieve it later when they need it.55
Th less-is-more principle is clearly being violated in the opening case study. M
s. Gaunt
decides that she must move fairly quickly if she is to cover all of the eighth-g
rade math curriculum, even if it means that few students will master any particu
lar topic or procedure. Given the
upcoming statewide math exam, she may have little alternative, but her students
are unlikely to
use what theyre learning on future occasions.
Both positive and negative transfer are more common when a
new situation appears to be similar to a previous one.
Transfer from one situation to another often occurs when the two situations over
lap in content, in
large part because the new situation provides retrieval cues that remind learner
s of relevant things
they learned in the previous situation.56 Consider Elena, the student flent in S
panish who is now
taking French. When Elena fist encounters French number words (un, deux, trois),
they should
quickly trigger recall of similar-sounding Spanish words (uno, dos, tres). When
transfer occurs
because the original learning task and the transfer task overlap in content, we
have specifi transfer.
Although the similarity of two situations usually promotes positive transfer fro
m one to
the other, occasionally it can lead to negative transfer. As an example, try the
following exercise.
See For yourSeLF
A DI vISI oN PRoBLEM
Quickly estimate an answer to this division problem:
20 , 0.38
Is your answer larger or smaller than 20? If you applied your knowledge of divis
ion by whole
numbers here, you undoubtedly concluded that the answer is smaller than 20. In f
act, the answer
is approximately 52.63, a much larger number. Has this exercise reminded you of
Teds erroneous
conclusionthat 4.14 is larger than 4.4based on his knowledge of how whole numbers
can be
compared? Many students at all levels, even in college, show negative transfer o
f whole-number
principles to situations involving decimals and fractions.57 Working with decima
ls appears, on
the surface, to be similar to working with whole numbers. Th only diffrencea very
important

one, as it turns outis a tiny decimal point.

general principles are more easily transferred than discrete facts.
Some facts are indispensable; for instance, learners should know what 2 + 3 equa
ls, what the Berlin
Wall signifid, and where to fid Africa on a globe. Yet by themselves, facts have
limited usefulness
in new situations. On average, general principles, rules, and theoretical explan
ations are more widely
applicable than specifi facts and information.58 For example, in solving computa
tional problems
requiring division, its helpful to keep in mind that division leads to a smaller
amount only when the
divisor is a number greater than 1. And in making sense of various historical an
d current events, its
helpful to know that a countrys citizens sometimes revolt when government offials
act unjustly.
Especially as they get older, some learners acquire an ability to apply general
principles to
topics quite diffrent from those theyve previously studied. For example, in one r
esearch study,
fith graders and college students were asked to develop a plan for increasing th
e population of
bald eagles, an endangered species in their state.59 None of the students in eit
her age-group had
previously studied strategies for eagle preservation, and the plans that both gr
oups developed were
54Haskell, 2001; Linn, 2008; Schmidt & Bjork, 1992.
55Cox, 1997; Linn, 2008; Perkins & Salomon, 1987; Schmidt & Bjork, 1992.
56Bassok, 2003; Day & Goldstone, 2012; Haskell, 2001.
57Carr, 2010; Karl & Varma, 2010; Ni & Zhou, 2005.
58S. M. Barnett & Ceci, 2002; Bransford & Schwartz, 1999; Haskell, 2001; M. Perr
y, 1991.
59Bransford & Schwartz, 1999.
118 Chapter 4 Complex Cognitive Processes
largely inadequate. Yet in the process of developing their plans, the college st
udents addressed
more sophisticated questions than the fith graders did. In particular, the fith
graders focused on
the eagles themselves (e.g., How big are they? What do they eat?), whereas the c
ollege students
looked at the larger picture (e.g., What type of ecosystem supports eagles? What
about predators
of eagles and eagle babies?).60 Ths the college students were drawing on an impo
rtant principle
they had acquired in their many years of science study: Living creatures are mor
e likely to survive
and thrive when their habitat supports rather than threatens them.
Learning strategies and general beliefs and attitudes can also
transfer to new situations.
Consider Stellas strategy of taking more notes in science because note taking has
been benefiial
in her history class. History and science dont overlap much in content, but she c
an apply a strategy shes acquired in one class to help her in the other. Heres an
instance of general transfer:
Learning in one situation affcts learning and performance in a very diffrent sit
uation.
Many learning and study strategies have wide applicability: When learners acquir
e effctive
strategies within the context of one content domain, they often apply the strate
gies in a very different domain.61 In addition, the general beliefs and attitude

s that learners acquire about learning

and thinkingfor instance, confience in their ability to master school subject mat
ter, recognition that learning often takes hard work, and willingness to conside
r multiple viewpoints on controversial issuescan have a profound impact on later
learning and achievement across multiple
domains and so clearly illustrate general transfer at work.62
Transfer increases when the learning environment encourages it.
We return once again to the concepts situated learning and situated cognition, w
hich we previously discussed in Chapters 2 and 3. As we noted in those discussio
ns, learners associate particular behaviors
and ways of thinking only with certain contexts and so dont use what theyve learne
d in other relevant contexts. Situated learning and cognition, then, can sometim
es interfere with positive transfer.
In informal, real-world learning activitiesfor example, in the communities of pra
ctice
described in Chapter 3learners typically know that theyll need to apply what theyre
learning
to new tasks and problems, the happy result being that they do apply it when the
y need it. In
many formal school settings, however, teachers encourage students to learn acade
mic subject matter for mysterious purposesfor example, Youll need to know this in c
ollege or It will come
in handy later in life. Teachers are more likely to promote transfer when, instea
d, they create a
culture of transfera learning environment in which applying school subject matter
to diverse
situations and topics is both the expectation and the norm.63 In such classrooms
, teachers often
encourage students to ask themselves How might I use this information? as they l
isten, read, and
study. And they regularly present tasks and problems in which students must appl
y what theyre
learning to real-world contexts.
check your understanding in the pearson etext.
PRobLEM SoLving and CREativitY
Both problem solving and creativity involve applyingtransferringpreviously learned
knowledge or skills to a new situation. In problem solving, people use what the
y know to address a
previously unanswered question or troubling situation. Psychologists have varyin
g opinions about
the nature of creativity, but in general it involves new and original behavior y
ielding a product
appropriate for, and in some way valuable to, ones culture.64
To successfully tackle a problem, people typically pull together two or more pie
ces of information into some sort of whole that resolves the problem. Ths combinin
g of information into a
single idea or product is known as convergent thinking. In contrast, when people
engage in creativity, they often begin with a single idea and take it in a vari
ety of directions, at least one of which
61Alexander, Johnson, Scott, & Meyer, 2008; Bransford et al., 2006; Brooks & Dan
sereau, 1987; Perkins, 1995.
62Bransford & Schwartz, 1999; Dai & Sternberg, 2004; De Corte, 2003; Pugh, Bergi
n, & Rocks, 2003.
63Engle, 2006; Engle, Lam, Meyer, & Nix, 2012; Gresalf & Lester, 2009; Haskell,
2001; Linn, 2008; Pea, 1987.
64For example, see Beghetto & Kaufman, 2010.
60Bransford & Schwartz, 1999, p. 67.
Problem Solving and Creativity 119
leads to something thats new, original, and culturally appropriate. Ths process o
f generating many diffrent ideas from a single starting point is known as diverg

ent thinking.
Figure 4.5 illustrates the diffrence between convergent and divergent thinking.
To
experience the diffrence fisthand, try the following exercise.
See For yourSeLF
CoN vERGENT AND DI vERGENT THINKING
Take a few minutes to answer each of the following questions:
1. You buy two apples for 25 c
each and one pear for 40c . How much change will you get
back from a dollar bill?
2. You have a rectangle with a width of 8 meters and a height of 6 meters, as sh
own below.
How long is the diagonal line?
3. What are some possible uses of a brick? Generate as many different and unusua
l uses as
you can.
4. Add improvements to the wagon to make it more fun to play with.65
Starting Point
Divergent Thinking
Final Product
Convergent Thinking
Figure 4.5 Convergent versus
divergent thinking
8 m
? 6 m
65Problems 3 and 4 modeled after Torrance, 1970.
66Carr, 2010; Hecht & Vagi, 2010; Lubart & Mouchiroud, 2003; Simonton, 2000; Swe
ller, 2009a.
67Runco & Chand, 1995.
To answer Question 1, you must pull together at least four facts (2 * 25 = 50, 5
0 + 40 = 90,
one dollar = 100 cents, and 100 - 90 = 10) to arrive at the solution 10. To answer
Question 2,
you must use the Pythagorean theorem (the square of the hypotenuse equals the su
m of the
squares of the other two sides) plus at least four number facts (62 = 36, 82 = 6
4, 36 + 64 = 100,
2100 = 10) to arrive at the solution 10 meters. Both Questions 1 and 2, then, invo
lve convergent thinking. In contrast, Questions 3 and 4 require you to think in
many diffrent ways about a
single objectyou must consider how a brick might be used in diffrent contexts and
how diffrent
parts of the wagon might be embellishedwith some of your responses being novel an
d unique.
(For example, perhaps you thought a brick might make an interesting base for a t
able lamp, and
perhaps you fastened a hobby horse to the wagons handle to make it look like a ho
rse and buggy.)
Questions 3 and 4, then, involve divergent thinking.
Despite the convergentdivergent dichotomy just described, you should think of pro
blem
solving and creativity as overlapping processes: Solving problems often involves
thinking creatively, and being creative typically requires solving one or more
problems. For example, consider
this situation:
As a teacher, you want to illustrate the idea that metal battleships flat despit
e the fact
that metal is denser (and therefore heavier) than water. You dont have any toy bo
ats
made of metal. What can you use instead to show students that a hollow metal obj

ect
can flat on water?
Although you ultimately need only a single solution, you must engage in divergen
t thinking to
generate a variety of options. Many objects might serve as ship substitutesperhap
s metal pie
plates, buckets, and thimblesand some might work better than others.
Several general principles apply to both problem solving and creativity.
The depth of learners knowledge inflences their ability to solve
problems and think creatively.
Successful problem solvers and creative thinkers usually have considerable knowl
edge and conceptual understanding of the topic in question.66 Especially in the
case of creativity, such knowledge may also involve mental associations among ve
ry diffrent ideas and subject areas.67
120 Chapter 4 Complex Cognitive Processes
When learners have limited knowledge about a topic and little conceptual underst
anding of it, theyre apt to choose problem-solving strategies on the basis of sup
erfiial problem
characteristics. 68 For example, when I was in elementary school, one of my teac
hers suggested that the word left in a word problem calls for subtraction. Inter
preting a left problem
as a subtraction problem works well in some instances but not others. Consider t
hese two
problems:
Tim has 7 apples. He gives 3 apples to Sarah. How many apples does he have left?
At the grocery store, Tim buys some apples for $2.00. When he leaves the store,
he has
$1.50 left. How much money did Tim have before he bought the apples?
Th second problem requires addition, not subtraction.
Both convergent and divergent thinking are constrained by working memory capacit
y.
You may recall from an exercise in Chapter 2 just how diffilt it can be to solve
a long division
problem in your head. Remember, working memory has a limited capacity: It can ho
ld only a
few pieces of information and accommodate only so much cognitive processing at a
time. If a
problem or task requires a person to handle a great deal of information at once,
to manipulate
information in a very complex way, or to generate a wide variety of new ideas, w
orking memory
capacity may be insuffient for arriving at an accurate or creative result.69
Learners can overcome the limits of working memory in at least two ways. One obv
ious
approach is to create an external record of needed informationfor example, by put
ting it on
paper or a computer screen. Another approach is to learn some skills to automati
cityin other
words, to learn them to a point where they can be retrieved quickly and easily.
70 Yet in the case of
automaticity, its possible to have too much of a good thing, as youll see shortly.
how learners encode a problem or situation inflences their strategies and eventu
al success.
Any particular problem or situation might be represented in working memorythat is
, encoded
in a variety of ways. As an example, see whether you can solve the problem in th
e following
exercise.
See For yourSeLF
PIGS AND CHICKENS

Old MacDonald has a barnyard full of pigs and chickens. Altogether there are 21
heads and 60
legs in the barnyard (not counting MacDonalds own head and legs). How many pigs a
nd how
many chickens are in the barnyard?
Can you fiure out the answer? If youre having trouble, try thinking about the pro
blem this way:
Imagine that the pigs are standing upright on their two hind legs, with their fr
ont two legs raised
over their heads. All the animals, then, are standing on two legs. Figure out ho
w many legs are
on the ground and how many must be in the air. From this information, can you de
termine the
number of pigs and chickens in the barnyard?
Because there are 21 heads, there must be 21 animals. Ths there must be 42 legs
on the ground
(21 * 2), which leaves 18 pigs legs in the air (60 - 42). Thre must therefore be
9 pigs (18 , 2) and
12 chickens (21 - 9).
If youre a profiient mathematician, you may simply have used algebra to encode an
d
solve the problem, perhaps using x for the number of pigs and y for the number o
f chickens and
then solving for these variables in the equations x + y = 21 and 4x + 2y = 60. A
lgebra provides
many helpful procedures for solving problems involving unknown quantities. In my
own experience, however, Ive found that most college students rarely use algebra
to solve problems outside
of a math class, thus displaying the situated cognition previously discussed. At
all grade levels,
Some ways of encoding a problem promote more successful problem solving
than others.
68Chi, Feltovich, & Glaser, 1981; Schoenfeld & Hermann, 1982; Walkington, Sherma
n, & Petrosino, 2010.
69Hambrick & Engle, 2003; K. Lee, Ng, & Ng, 2009; Sweller, 2009.
70N. Frederiksen, 1984; Mayer & Wittrock, 2006; Sweller, 1994.
Problem Solving and Creativity 121
students often have trouble solving word problems because they dont know how to t
ranslate the
problems into procedures or operations theyve learned at school.71
Sometimes learners encode a problem or situation in a seemingly logical way that
nevertheless fails to yield a workable result. As an example, take a stab at th
e next problem.
See For yourSeLF
CANDLE PRoBLEM
How might you stand a candle upright in front of a bulletin board attached to th
e wall? You dont want
the candle to touch the bulletin board, because the flme might singe the board.
Instead, you need
to place the candle about a centimeter away from the board. How can you accompli
sh the task using
some or all of the following materials: a small candle (birthday cake size), a m
etal knitting needle,
matches, a box of thumbtacks, and a 12-inch plastic ruler?72
As it turns out, the ruler and knitting needle are useless here. Piercing the
candle with the knitting needle will probably break the candle, and youre unlikel
y
to have much luck balancing the ruler on a few tacks. (I speak from experience h
ere,
as my own students have unsuccessfully tried both strategies.) Th easiest soluti

on
is to fasten the thumbtack box to the bulletin board with tacks and then attach
the
candle to the top of the box with either a tack or some melted wax. Many people
dont consider this possibility because they encode the box only as a container of
tacks
and so overlook its potential use as a candle stand. When people encode a proble
m or
situation in a way that excludes potential solutions, theyre victims of a mental
set.
Mental sets sometimes emerge when learners practice solving a particular
kind of problem (e.g., doing subtraction problems in math or applying the formul
a
E = mc2 in physics) without practicing other kinds of problems at the same time.
73
In general, repetitive practice can lead learners to encode problems and situati
ons in
a particular way without really thinking about themthat is, it can lead to automa
ticity in encoding. Although automaticity in the basic information and skills ne
eded
for problem solving and creative thinking is often an advantage (it frees up wor
king
memory capacity), automaticity in encoding problems and situations can yield inc
orrect solutions or inappropriate products, in part because it may lead learners
down a
counterproductive path of associations in long-term memory.74
problem solving and creativity often involve heuristics that facilitate but dont
guarantee successful outcomes.
Some problems can be successfully solved with an algorithm, a specifi sequence o
f steps that
guarantees a correct solution. For example, perhaps youve successfully put togeth
er a new bookcase by following the Directions for Assembly that came with all the
pieces. And in the opening
case study, Ms. Gaunts students can correctly determine that Louis needs 120 minu
tes (2 hours)
of typing paper if they use the standard procedure for paper-and-pencil long div
ision.
Yet the world presents many problems for which no algorithms exist. And creativi
ty, by its
very nature, requires original, nonalgorithmic approaches to situations. Further
more, algorithms
are few and far between outside the domains of math and science. Thre are no rul
es we can
follow to identify a substitute metal ship for a class demonstration, address on
going ethnic and
religious conflcts in the Middle East, or reduce global climate changea problem t
hat involves
economics, political science, and psychology as much as physics and meteorology.
In the absence of an algorithm, learners must instead use a heuristic, a general
approach
that may or may not yield a successful outcome. Some heuristics are specifi to p
articular content
domains. Others, such as the following, can be useful in a variety of contexts:7
5
Identify subgoals. Break a large, complex task into two or more specifi subtasks
that can
be more easily addressed.
Box of tacks
Matches
Candle

Knitting needle
Plastic ruler
Bulletin board
71K. Lee et al., 2009; Mayer & Wittrock, 2006; Resnick, 1989; Walkington et al.,
2010.
72Problem based on one described by Duncker, 1945.
73Langer, 2000; Luchins, 1942.
74Lubart & Mouchiroud, 2003; Rohrer & Pashler, 2010; Schwartz, Chase, & Bransfor
d, 2012.
75Baer & Garrett, 2010; Davidson & Sternberg, 2003; De Corte, Opt Eynde, Depaepe,
& Verschaffl, 2010;
Zhong, Dijksterhuis, & Galinsky, 2008.
122 Chapter 4 Complex Cognitive Processes
Represent parts of the situation on paper or a computer screen. Make a diagram,
list a
problems components, or jot down potential solutions or approaches.
Draw an analogy. Identify a situation analogous to the problem situation, and de
rive
potential solutions from the analogy.
Brainstorm. Generate a wide variety of possible approaches or solutionsperhaps in
cluding some that seem outlandish or absurdwithout initially evaluating any of th
em. After
creating a lengthy list, evaluate each item for its potential relevance and usef
ulness.
Incubate the situation. Let a problem remain unresolved for a few hours or days,
thereby allowing mental sets to dissipate and enabling a broad search of long-te
rm memory
for potentially productive approaches.
effective problem solving and creativity are partly metacognitive
activities.
Metacognition plays an important role not only in effctive learning and studying
but also in
problem solving and creativity. For example, effctive problem solvers and creati
ve thinkers tend
to do the following:76
Identify one or more specifi goals toward which to strive.
Break a complex problem or task into two or more simpler components.
Plan a systematic, sequential approach to addressing these components.
Continually monitor and evaluate their progress toward their goal(s).
Identify and address obstacles that may be impeding their progress.
Change to new strategies ifthe current ones arent working.
Apply high standards in evaluating fial results.
Such metacognitive processes enable learners to use creative problem-solving str
ategies flxibly, to
apply those strategies to more complex situations, and to know when particular s
trategies are and
are not appropriate.
In the opening case study, many of Ms. Gaunts students rarely critique their prob
lem
solutions for logical sensefor instance, they dont recognize that typing a 4,200-w
ord paper is
unlikely to take 100 days. Essentially the students engage in little or no selfevaluation of their
problem solutions. Truly successful learners evaluate not only their own work bu
t also the ideas
and work of others. In other words, they engage in critical thinking, our next t
opic.