Larry W. Brooks

Transfer of Information: An Instructional Perspective

Publisher Summary One of the major aims of education, whether stated explicitly or implicitly, is to increase the ability of students to competently interact with a varied and changing world. To meet this goal, the student must be able to appropriately transfer knowledge and skills acquired in one setting to another. Given the central importance of transfer in an educational system, it is surprising that relatively little attention has been paid to this issue by educational and psychological researchers. As a step toward remedying this neglect, this chapter presents the teaching and learning principles that facilitate the transfer of knowledge and skills. It presents the development of an overall framework developed for examining the factors that influence the efficacy of transfer. Attempts have been made to make an initial step toward bridging the gap between researcher and practitioner by organizing and presenting some of the research related to instructional transfer so that a few, reasonable straightforward recommendations can be made regarding the implementation of instructional transfer techniques and strategies in a variety of educational settings.

Utilizing intact and embedded headings as processing aids with nonnarrative text

Abstract This study examined the utility of intact (i.e., topic outline format) and embedded (i.e., appropriately positioned within the text) headings as processing aids with nonnarrative text. The argument was advanced that headings potentially provide useful cues for both input and output processing but that little empirical evidence exists to either support or refute this proposition. It was further argued that each of the prior studies reviewed were subject to one or more methodological criticisms which may attenuate the generality of the findings. The results of the present study indicated that no advantage accrued to students on the basis of training; however, limitations of this finding are discussed in terms of the amount of training provided and the time available to the students for integrating the new strategies with their existing techniques. The major result of this investigation was that students provided with text containing intact and embedded headings significantly outperformed students whose text did not contain these processing aids. The major benefits were observed at delayed testing; the text-with-headings students recalled approximately 11% more information at immediate testing and 44% more information at delayed testing than the text-without-headings students. Implications of these results and future research issues are discussed.

Effects of conversational noise, locus of control, and field dependence/independence on the performance of academic tasks

Abstract To evaluate the effects of conversational noise on the comprehension/retention of 2000-word text excerpts, two groups were randomly formed. Group 1 ( n = 20) studied under noise conditions and Group 2 ( n = 24) studied under nonnoise conditions. In the analysis of the scores on tests over the material studied under noise and nonnoise conditions, overall ANCOVAs indicated no significant differences among the two groups in performance on the comprehension/retention tests. Further analyses, however, indicated significant differences between the performance of identifiable subgroups under noise and nonnoise study conditions. Internals on Rotters I-E scale outperformed Externals under noise, whereas the reverse was true under nonnoise conditions.

Learning Strategies Training: Effects of Sequencing.

A learning strategies program emphasizing primary (text-oriented), and support (affective) strategies was evaluated. Participants were given training in one of two sequences: primary-support or support-primary. A no-treatment group served as a control. In general, the results revealed that strategy training significantly improved performance on both text-processing and self-report measures. The primary-support group typically scored higher than the support-primary group on the text-processing measures. Conversely, the support-primary group reported more positive responses on the self-report measures. Long-term follow-up results are also presented.

Generation of Descriptive Text Headings.

Abstract The effectiveness of having students generate their own headings for scientific text is assessed. Results reveal that generating headings enhance performance on a number of recall measures compared to either author-provided headings or no headings. Educational implications are discussed.