Transfer of Learning: Issues and Research Agenda

National Science Foundation Report #NSF03-212. 27 pages

On March 21-22, 2002, a workshop on transfer of knowledge was held at the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia. The workshop was funded by the NSF and organized by the late Rodney Cocking from NSF and by Jose Mestre from the University of Massachusetts. For one and one-half days 12 NSF program officers and 22 participants, representing diverse fields such as developmental, social and cognitive psychology, educational media/technology, cognitive science, and research into teaching and learning, met both to discuss past and present issues of transfer as it pertains to education and to generate a research agenda for the future. The National Science Foundation is planning to fund several Science of Learning Centers (SLCs) in the near future; it is hoped that the research agenda contained herein will be useful and informative for future research planned in the SLCs. We begin with a broad introduction of transfer of knowledge, discussing why it is both central and timely to the country’s educational mission in science, mathematics and engineering. Next the background leading up to the workshop is presented, including the governing charge and organizing themes. We then present the research agenda that resulted from the participant’s deliberations, and conclude with final remarks to place the research agenda in perspective. An appendix contains a complete participant list and the agenda followed in the workshop.