Types of Transfers with learning Fractions

In this lesson I will be teaching fractions to third graders.

A. To teach this topic so that students have a positive transfer of learning I would use a pizza to help children learn fractions in a visual way. For example, "If you ate 2 slices of pizza, what fraction would represent the number of pieces remaining?"

B. For a near transfer of learning I would have the students create their own fractions with chocolate bars instead of a pizza. For example a Hershey’s bar, because fractions are the same no matter what shape it is (circle or rectangle, etc).

C. For a far transfer I would teach students how to solve fraction problems with uncommon denominators. They would have to realize before they solve the problem, it is possible to solve a problem with two fractions with different denominators.

D. For a negative transfer I would introduce probability and compare it to fractions. Because all though probability has a similar look to fractions. It is not the same all around.

Cara McAloon

Teaching about the Caldecott Medal

Lesson: Caldecott Medal Winners
Grade Level: 3rd Grade


Teach the topic or skill with the intention of students’ positive transfer of their learning.
Since the Caldecott Medal is given for the most distinguished picture book of the year, in order to teach 3rd graders about Caldecott Medal winners, I would first review picture books with them. I would show and possibly read part of several picture books they would have looked at and read in kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade.

Teach the topic/skill to facilitate students’ near transfer of their learning.
I would pick out picture books that were Caldecott medal winners and Caldecott honor books and show the 3rd graders the illustrations. We could discuss why the books were honored.

Teach the topic/skill to facilitate students’ far transfer of their learning.
I would have to redefine what a picture book is and where they are located in the library. We have a separate section in the library just for picture books. The student would learn where in the library to go to find a picture book.

Teach the topic/skill to prevent students’ negative transfer of their learning.
I would pick several books that were not picture books therefore, not eligible for the Caldecott award. Reviewing picture books versus chapter books would exemplify the differences between a Caldecott winner and a non-winner.

Kathy Piccione

Week 10: Transfer of Learning

1st grade
Math- model addition

Positive-
We will be modeling addition with manipulatives or drawings in this lesson. The students have spent a lot of time counting with the manipulatives and using drawings to express numbers when counting.
Near-
Using manipulative can help the students have a better understanding of addition. They can move the objects around and use different colors to represent different items.
Far-
Understanding how to use the pictures or manipulative will really help the students when we introduce word problems.
Negative-
I will allow/expect the students to use this technique until the manipulative are no longer needed. The more the students use them the more then can benefit from the manipulatives. This should not hinder mastery of new ideas and techniques.

Learning Transfer

This may come across as optimistic, but in the world we live in today, and especially in the world we will live in very soon, I believe that Internet and other technology skills are critical to a young child's education.

Grade: 3rd-4th

Topic: Using Internet search engines to find and identify valid information/Basic Internet safety

To start out with, I would essentially teach students what a search engine is and how to use one. I would teach about search terms, how to broaden or narrow a search term, how to determine possible if a website is credible (and why this is important), and how to make smart choices about what kinds of links and files NOT to click on.

Once these skills have been introduced, I would revisit them throughout the school year. My overall intention would be to facilitate positive transfer of this skill, offering students a doorway into a universe of resources that can help them learn and explore new topics and ideas throughout their educations and lives. To avoid negative learning transfer, I would be careful not to let students begin using the Internet as a crutch, or a means of having all the answers without actually learning anything. I would offer examples of websites that give obviously false information (things that children at this age will know is wrong) and I will make it very clear that anyone can create a website and write anything they want to on it, whether it's true or false. I will try to get students to understand that it is important to know and to learn and remember because a computer wont always be available to look up information, and even when it is, you need to know enough about your topic to tell when something is utter nonsense.

To facilitate near learning transfer, I would plan opportunities for students to use their Internet search skills to conduct projects or compose papers in other subject areas, i.e. Science, History, etc. I would want students to see how useful the Internet can be in an academic, research-centered context. In contrast, I would want to facilitate far learning transfer by demonstrating ways the Internet can be used to find information relevant to daily life. On the first day of the week, I may assign a student the task of looking up the weather forecast for the week, and marking it appropriately on a weather chart in the classroom. As a class, we can then see how accurate different online weather services seem to be. If the class is going on a field trip, or recognizing a national holiday in our lessons, we could do preliminary research to learn a thing or two about the place or event we'll be exploring. I can help students learn how to find helpful resources for subjects or general tasks they have difficulty with as well, such as tutoring websites for Math or Science, or tutorials on how to fix a bike or build a bird house.

Week 10

Antonyms: Grammar

2nd Grade English

Facilitating Positive Transfer in the student's learning of Antonyms would occur by starting the lesson plan with synonyms. It has been shown that students learn antonyms successfully by connecting the similarities and differences between synonyms and antonyms. Worksheets and group activities are tools that can be used. This way of learning by connecting the student's previous knowledge of synonyms also facilitates near transfer of learning. With this particular lesson, facilitating learning using far transfer would be difficult but could be facilitated through connecting and focusing on the structural differences between antonyms and synonyms. Negative transfer of learning antonyms would be prevented by making sure that the students learned synonyms correctly with no misconceptions to eliminate any ineffective learning structures. The early this can be identified, through student presentations, projects or testing, the easier it is to prevent it.

Teaching Students to Write Number Sentences

For this assignment I intend to teach either kindergarten or first grade students (whichever of these grades this skill is typically introduced in) to write numerical equations using addition. For positive transfer of their previously learned knowledge, I will demonstrate two-plus-two using wooden blocks, putting them on the table two at a time, and then making a group of four blocks. To facilitate near transfer of their learning, I will draw two squares on the board, a plus sign, two more squares, an equal sign, and a group of four squares. To facilitate far transfer, I will write on the board the number 2, a plus sign, another number 2, an equal sign, and the number 4. To prevent negative transfer of their learning, I will give practice drills with students writing their numbers sentences, during which I will give individual instruction to students who, for example, are writing their 2’s backwards, or who have difficulty writing their plus and equal signs.

Learning About Mammals

Lesson: Animals
Focus: Mammals
Objective: Teach what characteristics define mammals in the animal kingdom.


Positive Transfer: Create a lesson about common mammals that can be found in our area and homes i.e. dogs, cats, skunks, deer, raccoons, rabbits… Discuss what these animals all have in common that we can see such as fur, four legs, eyes, ears, teeth…

Near Transfer: Create a lesson that teaches them about the characteristics of mammals that can’t be observed such as warm blooded, skeleton, breath air, give birth to live young, nurse their babies, some are vegetarian, some are carnivorous…

Far Transfer: Share with the class other mammals that might not be as familiar such as humans, whales and dolphins. Note how they might not meet all of our previous characteristics such as fur and have four legs. But lead the discussion on what they do have in common such as breathing air and nursing their young.

Prevent Negative Transfer: Talk about other animals that may share some characteristics of mammals, but why they are not mammals i.e. birds are warm blooded but lay eggs.

Transfer in a School Media Setting

I hope to be a School Librarian in an elementary school setting.  How to conduct research is an important skill to learn for all grades and I am focusing on 4^th graders for this assignment.  They are continuing the foundations they learned early on in elementary school and are beginning to apply them in preparation for a more intense curriculum in Middle School. The following is a list of anticipated strategies to accomplish various transfer outcomes.

• Teach the topic or skill with the intention of students’ positive transfer of their learning.

I would teach the students how to conduct research by incorporating what they are learning in other classes such as Social Studies, and have them research a certain topic from that class.  If they are studying Indian tribes I would have them use the library catalog computer to find books on the subject and find them on the shelf.

• Teach the topic/skill to facilitate students’ near transfer of their learning.

If students are studying how to conduct research in their computer class I would have them conduct similar research in the library on computers that would overlap strategies that they are learning in that class.

• Teach the topic/skill to facilitate students’ far transfer of their learning.

If a student has to use reasoning skills to determine how to make a bank shot in basketball they will examine the situation in a methodical way.  It is a similar thought process in research but would definitely be a far transfer of learning. Hopefully they would use those reasoning skills in other unrelated situations.

• Teach the topic/skill to prevent students’ negative transfer of their learning.

One must allow for many different types of research methods to be examined and tried so that a student does not simply think that there is only one way to do research.  Single vision thinking would hinder learning in other areas and would be a negative transfer of learning.

1st Grade Student

Topic- The phonemic pattern -ack.

Positive transfer: Before we begin reading an -ack patterned book, the students and I will compile a list of -ack words that they know. They will use their prior knowledge of words to think of as many -ack words as possible. I will also ask for definitions so I know that each students knows what each word means. We will also clap out how many syllables each word has.

Near transfer: After clapping out syllables, I will ask a students to take a word (ex. lack) and replace the "l" with a "b" (back). Then replace the "b" with a "p" (pack), etc. This will continue until each student has had a turn. The process will not change.

Far transfer: We will read the book out loud and in unison. While reading the book, I will ask them to predict what will happen based on the text. A lot of teachers use pictures, I will not use the pictures as a tool because not all books will have pictures. I want to make sure they understand the text.

Negative transfer: After learning -ack we can move on to other phonemic patterns such as double vowels (ex. ph, wh, oo, ee, etc.) Ultimately, this will lead to the students become better fluent and proficient readers.

Electronic Searches in High School

Since I currently work as an instructional graduate assistant at a university library, I felt I can apply my class to high school student which is the grade level I plan to work with. I teach students how to search databases and the library catalog for academic, authoritative results.

Teach the topic or skill with the intention of students’ positive transfer of their learning.

High school students look for information online all the time. The first thing I would do is find out how many students are familiar with Google, which should be everyone in the class since it’s the most common search engine. Then I would ask what they are looking for online. I can use their examples to explain how they can do the same search in databases and then get authoritative results instead of websites that can be considered nonsense. Finally I can have the students look up the same topics in databases to see what they find.

Teach the topic/skill to facilitate students’ near transfer of their learning.

Students are so used to looking for information electronically that showing them how to search in a databases using keywords they would understand using keywords because most have learned it somewhere or taught themselves. Having them tell me what words to look for will show them how they already have this skill and can apply it to database/catalog searches.

Teach the topic/skill to facilitate students’ far transfer of their learning.

Students can use a lot of these same skills in other ways. For instance, when looking for a topic in a book the student may look up one word and then remember that in electronic searches there are other words to look for as well. So the student wouldn’t just give up the search in the book because one word isn’t there, but instead find synonyms to that word.

Teach the topic/skill to prevent students’ negative transfer of their learning.

One problem I may have with a lesson is that students may think that if they can look up movie times and celebrity gossip on Google, then they should be able to find the information in the database. To prevent this I would need to explain what kind of information is found in databases and catalogs to prevent students from thinking it can answer all questions that are not academic (not to say it can’t answer some).

Teaching kindergarten students how to sound out three letter words

Kindergarten students ages 5-6

Topic- How to sound out simple three letter words.

Teach the topic or skill with the intention of student's positive transfer of their learning. I will teach kindergarten students how to sound out simple three letter words by using a specific technique. For the word such as log, they will say each sound a point to their shoulder for the sound of l, their elbow for the sound of o and their wrist for the sound of g. After they do this a couple of times they will begin to start at the shoulder and slide their hand down their arm to make the sounds fluently.

Teach the topic or skill to facilitate student's near transfer of their learning. Students will be able to use this same technique when sounding out other three letter words such as pot, hog, hat, tap..etc. This really helps students to fluently blend words and not sound like a robot when they sound them out.

Teach the topic or skill to facilitate student's far transfer of their learning. Students begin in kindergarten learning sight words. Many of these words have to be memorized. Some can be sounded out but we try to teach the students to memorize these and not to try and sound them out although some can be. This can be confusing to them because all year we concentrate on sounding words out and know we tell them that these can't be sounded out so it can be hard for a 5 year old to understand!

Teach the topic or skill to prevent student's negative of their learning.Once students have mastered sounding out three letter words we then move on to four letter words. Alot of these words have blends such as (th, sh, ck) and many have sneaky (e) at the end of the word that makes the vowel say its long vowel sound like in the word cake. Students cannot sound out these words, if they do they won't make sense and this is hard for them to understand. Students are taught rules with words with blends and combinations to help them when they sound them out.

Topic: Identify and Apply knowledge about copyright laws and fair use.

Level: 12^th Grade

 Teach the topic or skill with the intention of students’ positive transfer of their learning.

I would begin the class asking the students to imagine that they have taken the best picture of a sunset and have shown it to everyone and protected it under current copyright laws. However, there is this other person who decided to get the picture, transform it or duplicated it and is now making profits saying he/she is the original creator of all the material.

After thinking about how fair or not is the situation towards all individuals involved, the students would realize that copyright laws apply to everyone who is capable of producing pretty much anything that can be considered original. This situation can also be translated into other areas of their lives where laws that seem to apply only to a few can also be found to apply to the common individual.

 Teach the topic/skill to facilitate students’ near transfer of their learning.

Once the student learns how hurtful piracy is against society and how easy it can be to respect the copyright laws, the student can understand why other teachers are so “picky” about acknowledging sources properly. Learning how copyright works and what their role is as responsible students can actually improve their sense of academic and civic responsibility towards original authors and make them more eager to provide accurate sources even when they are not required to do so.

 Teach the topic/skill to facilitate students’ far transfer of their learning.

Making students aware that the copyright laws protect their rights, they will be encouraged to explore how to protect their rights and be aware of other peoples’ as a mean to stay between the boundaries marked by the law. The way to teach far transfer would be to teach students how to research the copyright terms of an item, how to contact the copyright holder, etc. as a mean to teach them that understanding a law is the best way to stay out of trouble. We are surrounded by laws in pretty much all environments so learning steps to understand them and fulfill them is surely useful in all kinds of situations inside and out of the academic environment.

 Teach the topic/skill to prevent students’ negative transfer of their learning.

It is also very important to help students realize that it is sometimes legal to use other people’s creations to make our own. “Copyrighted” doesn’t make things untouchable (common misconception): it just means that we have to learn how to make a respectful use of someone else’s intellectual property. For this, I think the best could be to teach the procedure to ask for permission from an author to use a material and the fact that some people actually feel honored to see that others like their original idea and want to adopt it and give them proper credit.

Learning Transfer to facilitate learning state capitals

For my scenario I will be teaching state capitals to 4th grade students.


Teaching the topic with the intention of students' positive transfer of their learning:

To ensure positive transfer of their learning, I would go over anything related that was covered earlier in the year or in a previous grade. Students may have a general understanding of what a state capital is or may know the capital of the state in which they live. This could be used as a foundation and transferred to the new topic of learning all 50 state capitals. I would go over all the general similarities of all state capitals, and let them explore ways in which their own state capital is similar to that of other states. I would strive to give students a deep understanding of what we learn about all state capitals through a variety of classroom activities so that what we learn can later be positively transferred to future geography, government, politics and/or other lessons.


Teaching the topic to facilitate to facilitate students' near transfer of their learning:

Students could benefit from near transfer of learning each time a new capital is introduced and we explore facts using the vocabulary we've learned at the beginning of the unit. For example, students would already be familiar with the terms "capital" and "population" from learning one state capital, then that knowledge can be transferred to facts learned about a different capital. Students would not have to relearn relevant vocabulary with each new capital. Rather, it would be transferred.


Teaching the topic to facilitate students' far transfer of their learning:

Far transfer could be facilitated by tying in previous knowledge from different areas of geography or other subjects. Since far transfer involves students applying previous knowledge to a novel problem or situation, prior knowledge gained from similar or different subjects could be connected to the new learning. For example, students may already be familiar with the concept of the nation's capital of Washington, D.C. Although the concept of a state capital is novel learning, they could transfer what they know about the term "capital" to the new situation. This would be far transfer because the concept of a state capital is structurally different from the concept of our nation's capital, but certain ideas with which they are already familiar about the term "capital" such as being a place for government meetings or a geographical location in which leaders meet could be applied.


Teaching the topic to prevent students' negative transfer of their learning:

To prevent negative transfer of knowledge, I would begin the unit by exploring what students already know about the topic to find out if they have any misconceptions that need to be cleared up before we proceed. An example might be if students had learned similar vocabulary in other subjects that could be confused. An example might be the word "capital" which could have different meanings in different subjects or contexts. Another example might be that students have heard of big or well-known cities which they assume are the capitals since they are so well-known. It would be important to access how much students already know on the topic and make sure they are clear on all vocabulary. Then I would strive to make sure that all new learning acquired in this unit would be taught in a meaningful way and that students understand the concepts deeply to prevent any negative transfer of this learning to future learning. I would hope to teach the topic so that everything learned could be appropriately applied when students build upon their learning in the future.

Types of Transfer

I am in a classroom of second grade students. My intent is to enrich their previous lesson on plants. In their science book, they read basic information about plants needing light, soil, and water. I think this lesson is too simple and I want them to learn more about plants.

Positive transfer of learning: I would discuss different uses for plants. I would show examples of using plants to build things (wood), to eat (apples, corn), for medicine, and to dye clothes (crush blueberries and dye cloth). The strategies are building on what students already know and using real world examples.

Near transfer of learning: Part of the lesson would include different parts of plants that we eat. I would discuss and show above ground food (orange, strawberry) and then roots (ginger, carrots, radishes). We would talk about tap roots and I would read a book on garden plants. Here, I use strategies such as building on what students already know and showing the connection of eating above ground food and below ground food (roots).

Far transfer of learning: I could discuss how we use plants for specific purposes, not just for food. We use plants for medicine, housing, clothes, and dye. Then I could ask students what people use animals for. They could break into small groups and use inference and brain storming as strategies. By using far transfer of learning, they should come up with the following reasons animals are useful to people: pets, workers, food (meat, milk), clothing (fur).

Prevent negative transfer of learning: I would bring in different spices, discuss what plants produce them and have students smell and touch the spices. Since many students are picky eaters and have had bad experiences with food, I could have a potluck and students could bring in vegetarian dishes. In a social atmosphere students may have more positive experiences trying new things. Therefore, learning about food and spices through the strategy of hands on experience (eating) could be a positive thing.

SLMS Information Seeking Skills

As a school library media specialist one of the most basic skills I would like to instill in my second grade students is there is a world of learning beyond the internet that can be found through good information seeking skills in books and other resources. Of course, by this time I would think these students would be very familiar with searching the internet for information needed in most of their assignments for school or for personal interest. Their information seeking skills have started to develop and that will help with the positive transfer of their information seeking skills in a book I would help them to understand the same critical thinking skills they initialize in a “google” search can also be effective in a search of a dictionary or an encyclopedia. If I am able to show them the non-virtual equivalency of the internet in how research is done in a book, newspaper or through a card catalogue, it is possible to use their preexisting skills to be successful in this “new” manner of information seeking. It is through this same function I can address the issue of far transfer. The structure of a book is significantly different than that of a computer, but being able to show them the different parts of the reference book they should be able to start formulating the similarities between this archaic manner of conducting research and that of a simple internet subject search. Near transfer can be encouraged by waiting a week or so after the first lesson and giving the students a new topic of research to be conducted in a new type of reference material. That way it is possible to see if they are able to apply what they have learned in a different setting. The possibility of negative transfer will always there because these students have grown up in a world of immediate access to a huge amount of information. It may be they expect to find exactly what they are looking for by perusing an index and assuming their topic of research will jump out at them. They need to be taught to reassess their search query and be able to overcome the possible failure of a first attempt.

How to find a book in an elementary school library

Objective - Students will be able to use the online catalogue to find call numbers, and use call numbers to find books of choice for check out

Teaching Point - Readers know how to use the online catalogue to find their book of choice on the shelves.

Setting-
School library. Computers are all open to the online catalogue search page. The school collection is set as the default, so availability of materials at other schools will not show up.
The collection consists of fiction books catalogued with an alphabetical system by author's last name, and nonfiction which is catalogued using the Dewey Decimal Classification system.

Technology-
Computers
Smartboard with a laptop

Prior Knowledge–
ABCs for fiction book location
Decimal numbers for 4th grade and higher
Keyboarding for 3rd grade and higher - some younger know how to type as well
Books are fiction or nonfiction

Assessment –
Students successfully locate their book of choice for check out with little adult help

Transfer-
Near transfer – alphabet to find fiction books
Far Transfer – decimals and letters in nonfiction books with Dewey Decimal Classification call numbers
Negative Transfer - call numbers are not always numbers; all books are not catalogued using the same system

Lesson-
Students will be introduced to searching the catalogue through a mini-lesson on how to find a book using author, title or subject search options. The lesson will be based on favorite authors, like Kinney who writes the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, and titles like The Last of the Olympians. Subject searches might include Star Wars, Pokemon, dinosaurs, and animals are popular topics. I will use these examples to start the lesson, and let the students suggest as the lesson progresses. I will also use a Smartboard as the main teaching tool.

I will start the lesson with the initial search page and see if any students remember or can guess what the page is for. Then, I will point out the search box and the selections for the type of search: author, title, subject, and keyword. We will focus on the first three; we will talk about keyword searches another day.

I will ask students how many would like to find one of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books? To find these books we could type in (pulling up the keyboard function on the Smartboard) Wimpy Kid and before selecting title, ask for predictions on what I will find. Which books will be listed? The search should pull up all titles from the series in book and playaway formats.

We can decide which book to look for. After selecting that book: In the record we need to find the call number, which is the special number for that book. It tells us where to find the book in the library. Let's see if we can find the call number for the Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Negative transfer - not all call numbers are numbers. They can also be letters. So it may take them a little time to find the call number. For this book the call number is F KIN, F is for fiction and KIN is for Kinney, the author. Fiction books are shelved in alphabetical order by the author's last name. I will show them where the fiction books are shelved.

You can search for books when you know the author but forgot the title. For example, I like Henkes but forget which book is about the girl starting school and she is so scared. I can enter Henkes, select author, and read through the book titles that come up. We see that the call number is a lot like Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It starts with an F and then three letters for the author's last name: F HEN.

Okay. We have one more way to look for books that we're going to talk about today, and that is using a subject search. Why do you think I might want to use a subject search? I would select a student that provided a possible answer for this question and allow him/her to type in and search by subject the topic. Now let's look for the call number. Positive, Near Transfer - Once it is found: Hey it's a number, with a decimal - you know about those (if they are in 3rd grade or older) or a dot if they are younger, and a letter. Hmm. Let's write this down. When I go to look on the shelves for this book it will be a bit harder than the fiction books which uses our ABCs (Positive, Near). Positive, Far Transfer - We will need to use the numbers to the left of the decimal, then the numbers to the right and then the letter. I will make the call number larger so we can look at each component. The nonfiction books are trickier to find (pointing out where in the library they are housed). Give it a try and if you need help, I'm happy to give you a hand. What are some other subjects we might want to find? Depending on time and interest level, we might try one more Smartboard search directed by a student.

Alright, lets find some books for check out. I would then direct the students to the computers and monitor their progress. I can add suggestions through questions to help guide them in their search process. We can talk about their choices during checkout.

Using Reference Resources

As a library media specialist, for this assignment I will teach fourth graders how to use the library’s digital encyclopedias to locate information.  

• To foster positive transfer of learning and help students understand the organization of encyclopedias as alphabetical by subject, I will review with the students their prior skills of locating words in a dictionary and demonstrate a dictionary search. Students will practice looking up their subject term in the dictionary to find a definition for it and possibly gather additional keywords they can use to research the topic in an encyclopedia.
• For a near transfer of learning, students will practice using the library’s print encyclopedias to locate information about their topic of choice. They can use their subject term as well as any additional keywords gleaned from looking up their subject in the dictionary to search the print encyclopedias. However, some students may have to share print volumes depending on their subjects, which will help me later on to emphasize the differences between print and digital encyclopedias.
• For a far transfer of learning, students will search for their subject using the library card catalog, a skill with which they are already very familiar. This searching will help them locate different print resources related to their topic, not all of which may be relevant, accurate, and/or currently available at the library. Students will have to make the connection that the encyclopedia not only is a specific kind of resource that provides relevant, accurate information about a variety of subjects, but also the online encyclopedia is available to multiple people in different settings at the same time.
• To prevent negative transfer of learning, students will perform online searches via Google of their subject keywords. I will highlight the differences between the various search results (some scholarly and accurate, some advertisements and/or inaccurate information, etc) to emphasize that using online encyclopedias is not the same as performing online searches.

Finding Reputable Resources Online

I am a school media specialist, and I am assisting an eighth grade teacher by showing her class how to perform research for an assignment by finding credible sources.

Positive Transfer - Have students perform a basic Google search for their topic. This is something that they have most likely done before.

Near Transfer - Students will then have to observe the first ten results in that Google search for websites that are seemingly reputable and discount those that are not. For example, if a student opens a link that has pop-ups, I will show him or her that it is probably not a good source. I will also show the class that websites, such as reputable organizations, are good sources.

Far Transfer - I will then show the class the databases which the library subscribes to and have them perform searched there. This will probably be a search that they are not familiar with unless they have had to do this in a previous class or unless the student is particularly ambitious and motivated.

Prevent a Negative Transfer - I will have each student demonstrate to me whether a certain source is reputable or disreputable. Once I have observed that each student understands this concept, I believe negative transfer will be prevented.

Finding Definitions

For this Week 10 activity, I am a school librarian teaching an information literacy skill to a classroom of 21 third-graders.

Positive Transfer: Students will learn how to find the correct definition of a word.

Near Transfer: Students will compare skills needed to find a definition in a textbook glossary with skills needed to find a definition in the dictionary.

Far Transfer: Students will learn and practice finding definitions online using correct search engine terms.

Negative Transfer: To prevent negative transfer of learning, students will learn the difference between good sources and questionable sources for finding definitions. Students will practice determining a relevant definition when more than one definition is given for a term.

~Margaret (Susie) Pozgay

My activity is for second graders. I have been around Pre School and the lower grades in elementary school for almost 3 years now. This is the age group I am most familiar with. Since we are currently in the Fall season, that is which I will use. At this age group they have a general understanding of holidays thus as a teacher it is our job to broaden their approach to these seasons and holidays.

Positive Transfer of Learning: create a lesson about Thanksgiving. Show the students that thanksgiving always comes around during the Fall season.

Near Transfer of Learning: The students can identify the fall season by the leaves falling and changing colors. Demonstrate this and allow them to have a hands on activity with the leaves and other fall objects such as acorns.

Negative Transfer of Learning: create a lesson that allows students that in other areas of the world this may not be true. For example in Australia they do not celebrate thanksgiving and their seasons are opposite of ours.

Far Transfer of Learning: Create a lesson that allows the students to read other information on different countries about thanksgiving and seasons.

Complex Cognitive Processes

As a teacher in the K-12 classroom setting, I would love to teach geometry. Geometry is subject that is offered or taught to 10th grade students. A topic I would love to explore with my students would be the Pythagorean Theorem (Right Triangles). Right triangle has many applications relative to the real world. For example, right triangle can be used to find the shortest distance to work, school, home, or etc. Sure you can use a numerical approach to figure the exact numbers, but to see it geometically would be very benificial. With that being said, I have listed below my thoughts for the tranfers of knowlege.


1. Positive tranfer of learning: Construct a lesson about right triangles and what the relationships are between the three sides. Students will be able to identify a right triangle without any reference. Included in that lesson about the relationship between the sides of a right triangle will be the Pythagorean Theorem.

2. Near tranfer of learning: Construct a lesson about applying right triangles to real world situations.

3. Far transfer of learning: Construct a lesson about Trigonometry. The students will understand trigonometry, but they may not notice how essential right triangles is to trigonometry.

4. Preventing negative transfer of learning: While teaching right triangles, I would include phyics. Which would allow the students to explore right triangles in a different setting .

Complex Cognitive Processes

When working with pre-school and kindergarten age students, one of my favorite thematic units to teach was that of the fall season. I think one of the reasons for this is because the school year is just starting and everyone is excited and ready to go. Also, living in New York State, there are significant changes that occur from season to season. Besides back to school, the fall season provides some interesting additional topics to discover such as: elections, the weather, field trips, fire safety week and pizza and pasta month. With the fall thematic unit in mind, my ideas for transfer of knowledge are:

Positive transfer of learning: create a lesson about the weather and how weather patterns change based on the four seasons. Students are already familiar with weather basics, so it makes sense to teach them which seasons are associated with which weather patterns.

Near transfer of learning: create a lesson that demonstrates that, just as the weather changes season by season, different fruits and vegetables are harvested during the different seasons or grow better in specific climate conditions.

Far transfer of learning: create a lesson that teaches students about elections or fire prevention. While the students may realize that moving into the fall season often brings changes in the weather, they may not realize that the season is also a time when other traditions occur, many of which may be new to them.

Preventing negative transfer of learning: Going back to the weather lesson plan, use a calendar to teach the children which months are a part of which season. Explain that while the weather in the fall and the spring can feel similar, there are differences in what is happening during both seasons.

Complex Cognitive Processes

For the purposes of this example I would be teaching an eighth grade first time Spanish class.

To give the children a chance at a ‘positive transfer’ from their previous experience, I would teach them some vocabulary in Spanish that are conjugates (words that are the same or almost the same in both Spanish and English). This could give them an easy base to build on, and give them confidence while they start to learn Spanish.

For a ‘near transfer’ I would use the Spanish Alphabet song to teach them the Spanish alphabet (which is constructed differently than the English alphabet) just like everyone used the English Alphabet song, to the tune of ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’, to learn the English alphabet. In fact, most people have to sing that song to remember the alphabet in order.

For a ‘far transfer’ I would tell the students to go through their homes and tape index cards or sticky notes with the Spanish words for various items (doorè la puerta, etc.), so that they would have a more concrete way to understand the words instead of just matching English words with Spanish ones.

I would try to prevent a ‘negative transfer’ of English grammar rules in Spanish. For example, in Spanish the adjective comes after the noun, to clarify this idea, I would have them use their vocabulary to build many examples of each grammar rule as we learn them. I would have them write these examples out in class, share their examples with class mates, and select random students to write examples on the board, so that we could discus as a class whether or not and why or why not each example was correct.

Complex Cognitive Processes

For this assignment, I will be a school media specialist teaching Kindergartners the difference between fiction and non-fiction. 

• To facilitate positive transfer I will start with a few fairytales that all the children are familiar with like Jack and the Beanstalk and Cinderella.  It will be easier for the children to understand that these books are fiction, because they already understand that giants aren't real and pumpkins cannot change into carriages.
• For near transfer I will chose a social studies textbook that they use in class.  Because they are familiar with facts in these books, it will be easier for them to grasp the concept of non-fiction material representing factual information.
• To facilitate far transfer, I will show them an illustrated book about fire safety and ask them whether it is fiction or non-fiction.  They will have to make the connection that non-fiction books can be more than just textbooks.  In fact, they can be about a variety of topics and be delivered in different formats.
• Lastly, to prevent negative transfer, I will introduce some fictional books that are more realistic so the children don't assume that fiction is just fairytales.

Transfer outcomes in Classroom Learning

For the purposes of this assignment, I will plan to teach 8th grade students how to use audio equipment and editing software to create a podcast. To teach podcasting with the intention of student's positive transfer of their learning, I will have them pick a topic to podcast on that relates to one of their other classes. For example, if students are taking 8th grade science that is about to study a unit on the sun, I will have them create a podcast about sun spots so that they will later be able to transfer their knowledge to their science class later on. To apply near transfer, I will have students utilize their newly developed podcasting knowledge for future assignments on different topics. To facilitate far transfer, I will use other new media techniques to broadcast students podcasts, for example having students upload their stories on to the class blog (testing their developing computer literacy skills). In order to prevent negative transfer from this exercise, I would have students understand the differences in writing a script for a podcast and a paper for a class so that understand there are differences among the mediums and that different skill sets are appropriate for each.

Complex Cognitive Processes

I plan to teach high school history, social studies, or geography. To avoid negative and having positive transfer in the students learning will come from carefully designing the lessons to build off of each other. For near transfer I will give tasks that are procedural and applied in the same order. For far transfer I’ll throw them curve balls and give tasks that are in changing situations and include many variables.

Facilitating Transfer of Language Skills

For the purpose of this assignment I will be teaching a 6th grade Spanish class.

• A class discussion about methods students use to learn new vocabulary or spelling words in their English class could be held to draw a positive transfer of skills from these experiences to learning the new language.
• Near transfer of skills can be used when teaching verb conjugations. The students could be taught how to make a conjugation chart for one type of verb and later instructed to make a chart for a different type of verb.
• A far transfer of skills could be seen if the students were instructed to write poetry in Spanish even though all learning had been in prose.
  
• A negative transfer of skills could be seen if students were asked to learn a set of Italian vocabulary words after studying Spanish for a semester. Although many words are very similar between these two languages, different spelling rules would adversely affect the students' performance in both languages.
  

Transfer of Learning

    Identify a topic or skill that you intend to teach within a K-12 classroom; identify the grade level or age range of students. Explain your anticipated strategies to accomplish the following transfer outcomes.

a.    Teach the topic or skill with the intention of students’ positive transfer of their learning.

b.   Teach the topic/skill to facilitate students’ near transfer of their learning.

c.    Teach the topic/skill to facilitate students’ far transfer of their learning.

d.   Teach the topic/skill to prevent students’ negative transfer of their learning.