Transfer of learning, the process by which people can recognize and apply previously learned information to different situations, is one of the primary goals of education.
All tagged transfer
A Framework for Training Students to Better Use Evidence-Based Learning Strategies
If you read our blog, even sporadically, you are almost certainly aware that investigations into evidence-based learning strategies have been ongoing for quite some time. In fact, as we near the end of 2025, I’m realizing that Ebbinghaus’ work on spaced practice …
Promoting Far Transfer in Medical Education: An Experiment
About 8 years ago (seriously, I can’t believe we’ve been doing this for so long…), we published a pair of blog posts on understanding both near and far transfer (Part 1; Part 2). Transfer is one of my favorite topics, in part because it is arguably the whole point of most formal education. The purpose…
Confident and Wrong: Can Students Learn from Their Mistakes?
When students find out that they’re wrong about something, how often does that sink in? How often do we learn from our mistakes? While this is a complex question, today I’m going to share a hot-off-the-presses study with you that looked at one aspect of this issue.
Spaced Retrieval Practice Benefits Long-Term Learning and Transfer
For over a century cognitive psychologists have been studying spaced practice and retrieval practice, resulting in a great deal of evidence that these two strategies work very well to improve student learning. However, no single experiment or paper is going to be able to answer, in full, the question “how does …
Encouraging Students to Adopt Effective Learning Strategies
If you regularly read our blog or have utilized the downloadable materials on our website, then you know there is a great deal of research supporting the use of the strategies we discuss, like retrieval practice and spaced practice. These strategies have been around for over a century…