Teaching for Transfer

Why study learning transfer?

As we prepare students to enter a world of work where the jobs they will do may not exist yet, we must intentionally provide instruction that moves students from surface, to deep, to transfer of learning. We identify the concepts that are the primary purpose of the learning goals to create the conditions for transfer of learning.

Learning transfer challenges schools/institutions to focus on the conditions of learning and the transfer of the newly attained knowledge in skills, better preparing students for success beyond the classroom. Learning transfer also aligns to the “whole student” approach to learning by supporting student engagement and preparedness as well as providing challenge through the transfer of their learning within and across content areas.

At the core of teaching for learning transfer is the opportunity to address disciplinary instruction, thinking, learning, and application in a blended (or interdisciplinary) approach that reflects 21st century teaching, learning, and work. By placing the learner at the center, the instructional planning focuses on the subject of the learning and develops all of the disciplinary tools necessary to effectively apply the learning for deep understanding and retention of transferable knowledge. After all, we are preparing today's students to do jobs that have not yet been invented.