>So I think that as far as the practical educational policy
>implications of 'transfer' and 'abstraction' are concerned,
>the practically important questions remain unaddressed:
>who benefits, how much, how often, with what degree of effort --
>and is it worth it, compared to other feasible alternatives?
>
To Jay's observations, I'd add that the CMU group's article primarily
(perhaps exclusively) references experimental research conducted in labs,
with knowledge transfer measured in designed tasks. I think it's very hard
to generalize from these studies to situated transfer where the need to
transfer knowledge is less obvious, the cues are less explicit, and the
interference is greater.
Peter Smagorinsky
University of Oklahoma
College of Education
Department of Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum
820 Van Vleet Oval
Norman, OK 73019-0260
(405)325-3533
fax: (405)325-4061
smagor who-is-at aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu
psmagorinsky who-is-at uoknor.edu