8 Ways To Transfer Knowledge.

 One thing students have difficulty doing is transferring their knowledge from the textbook to other parts of their lives even with real world examples.  Often, students are unable to see the direct link between the textbook and real life but there are ways to help students learn to transfer their knowledge so it becomes habit.

One issue is that memory relies on context which makes it harder for the brain to transfer material learned in a classroom to a work environment.  So one has to learn how to take prior knowledge and give the information a new context so it applies to the new situation.

1.  When teaching new material have students suggest ways it applies to either possible future jobs or life before tying it to their long term or short term goals.  Teachers can suggest connections but if the students do not provide their own connection, they find it more difficult to transfer knowledge because they see no relevance.  In addition, when students find relevance to the material, they are able to apply it to other situations.

2. Incorporate activities where students are able to reflect on the new material to see if they understand the concept in depth.  Then they need to explain it to themselves because this offers them the opportunity to discover if they have misconceptions, correct them which leads to a deeper understanding.  Furthermore, when students work on explaining it to themselves while using their own words, it is easier for them to connect it to previous knowledge while transferring it to a new situation.

3. Have students use a variety of media to learn the material.  This means using text, videos, audio, and other methods so students are able to retain more material and score higher when tested on the material.  Visuals can make it easier for students to learn or at least they perceive it that way.

4. Help students change the way they study so its more random rather than being at the same place, with the same music, at the same time everyday.  Although changing the place, time, and way of studying is more difficult initially, it is easier to retain the information later on.  This change also called "desirable difficulties" actually leads to a deeper learning which is what students want.

5. It is important for students to learn to identify any gaps they have in their foundation because these gaps make it more difficult to transfer knowledge. Furthermore, it allows students to strengthen their knowledge based once these gaps have been identified.  One way to identify gaps is to take practice tests because tests also identify topics students have mastered so they can focus only on the gaps.

6.  Teach students to set both learning goals and success criteria because it tells students what they are going to get out of their learning and how they know when they learned it.  Goals need to be realistic and specific so the goals can be met.  A realistic goal might be learning all the facts above  7 x 7 over the next 6 weeks because you know you struggle with those and you've set a reasonable time period to do this.

7.  Help students learn to generalize the knowledge from the classroom to a different situation.  An example of this might be taking what they learned about inequalities in the classroom and find as many situations in real life that are described by inequalities such as filling a gas tank, the height restriction of a amusement park ride, or buying patterns on sale.

8. Every day, have students find situations to apply what they learned.  These situations should be outside of the classroom such as buying enough pizza's for a party and thinking of this as using an inequality or look at starting a business in town and calculating the startup costs.  Finding real life applications of the material provides that direct connection between the classroom and application to work.

These are some ways for students to learn to transfer what they've learned in the classroom to other situations such as a work environment.  Furthermore, it prepares them so future employers are more likely to feel as if the student is ready to step into the company.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.