Which of the following scenarios is an example of a negative transfer?

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When we use the term transfer, we are referring to “the extent to which knowledge and skills acquired in one situation affect a person’s learning or performance in a subsequent situation.” (Ormrod, 2014, p. 206) Generally, there are two types of transfer that take place. Positive transfer occurs when something we’ve learned previously aids us in learning at a later time. Negative transfer takes place when something we’ve learned interferes with our learning at a later time.

A good example of positive transfer would be a student discovering their learning style in a math class. The teacher is discussing adding three digit numbers and is carrying the one from the tens place into the hundreds. The teacher does several examples on the board, however the student feels perplexed as to how this is done. Soon, worksheets are handed out and each student is given the opportunity to attempt carrying numbers themselves. Once the student tries a couple of examples they realize that it’s not so bad and build confidence. At a later date, the student is again confused by a teacher’s lecture, but feels confident that once they get a pencil in hand and do it themselves, they will understand the information just fine. The students understanding of their own learning ability, and taking that knowledge with them into another lesson, is an example of positive transfer.

Negative transfer is perhaps not as common as positive transfer, though as teachers we must take steps to recognize and clarify in areas where it may take place. An example of negative transfer could be the way a student learns to play an instrument. Let’s say a young student is playing snare drum in her school’s band. The music calls for tapping out a steady beat on the drum. Instead of alternating stick hands to tap out the beat, the student relies on just using her right hand. Later on, she has difficulty with a song that requires using both hands on the instrument.

One of our goals in education should be to aid students in transferring what they learn to situations outside of the classroom. There are several factors that affect transfer that we can use to our advantage in this regard.

A student will learn more effectively if they are taught a topic in depth and from different angles, as opposed to rote memorization and repetition. Because of this, we know that meaningful learning promotes better transfer than repetition. We can use this to our advantage when educating. Ideally, we would take a “less is more” approach; focusing on a smaller number of topics and learning them in depth. This would give the students more time to spend with each topic, ensuring a higher chance they apply what they’ve learned in the future. By coming at the same information several times and in different ways (discussions, group work, board work) we are raising the chance that the students will have a deeper understanding and that the knowledge will be well organized in their minds.

A way that we aid ourselves in learning new information is in connecting it to concepts we already know.  As a result, positive and negative transfer are going to be more common when a new situation is similar to one learned previously. Our goal here should be to minimize the negative transfer and help promote the solidification of new concepts apart from ones that are similar. We can do this by taking the time to point out and identify the subtle differences between similar topics. Catching the associations before they set themselves in a student’s mind will help prevent the negative transfer. By meticulously explaining the differences between these topics there is a greater chance that the students will transfer what they learn into events out in the world.

Though specific facts and memorization will always play an important role in education in a classroom, principles and theories are more easily transferred than facts are. A theory of addition will allow a student to add different groups of objects together regardless of the amount, whereas knowing what 10 + 10 equals is going to have limited use. Pushing principles in class instead of rote memorization will increase a student’s ability to transfer what they learn. It would seem that by starting with the principles as a general strategy, before moving on to specific memorization, we would be able to more effectively maximize the learning experience.

Ormrod, J. E. (2014). Educational Psychology Developing Learners. Boston: Pearson.

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