The new Spring edition of American Educator was published today, with a new article taken from our most recent book More Urban Myths about Learning and Education.
You can read the article here for free and this is what it all is about:
Transfer of learning is seen as the use of knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes that you’ve learned in one situation in a different situation.2 This new situation can be either a similar situation (near transfer) or a dissimilar situation (far transfer). In recent years, we’ve encountered numerous different forms that claim to be examples of far transfer:
- Learn how to program, so that you can more easily learn mathematics.
- Learn Latin, so that you can better learn other languages.
- Learn music, so that you can better learn arithmetic.
- Learn chess, so that you can better learn to do just about everything!
But are these claims justified? Are they really examples of far transfer?
(read more)
Reblogged this on 3-Star learning experiences.
[…] The authors can also report positive results for skills. This naturally includes learning to program and computational thinking. However, other skills, such as problem-solving, logical reasoning, and creativity, could be mentioned, given the extensive literature on this topic. Even some reviews present effects that extend beyond programming skills. For example, on mathematical skills, metacognition, or reasoning. I am personally more cautious here because, in our own work on this topic, such transfer was usually very limited or nonexistent. […]