Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Sep;19(3):es9.
doi: 10.1187/cbe.19-11-0227.

Transfer: A Review for Biology and the Life Sciences

Althea N Kaminske  1 , Carolina E Kuepper-Tetzel  2 , Cynthia L Nebel  3 , Megan A Sumeracki  4 , Sean P Ryan  5
Affiliations
Review

Transfer: A Review for Biology and the Life Sciences

Althea N Kaminske et al. CBE Life Sci Educ. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

Transfer of knowledge from one context to another is one of the paramount goals of education. Educators want their students to transfer what they are learning from one topic to the next, between courses, and into the "real world." However, it is also notoriously difficult to get students to successfully transfer concepts. This issue is of particular concern in biology and the life sciences, for which transfer of concepts between disciplines is especially critical to understanding. Students not only struggle to transfer concepts like energy from chemistry to biology but also struggle to transfer concepts like chromosome structures in cell division within biology courses. This paper reviews the current research and understanding of transfer from cognitive psychology. We discuss how learner abilities, taught material, and lesson characteristics affect transfer and provide best practices for biology and life sciences education.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 1.
Steps in successful transfer.
FIGURE 2.
FIGURE 2.
A taxonomy of transfer adapted from Barnett and Ceci (2002).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Abercrombie, S., Hushman, C. J., Carbonneau, K. J. (2019). The impact of seductive details and signaling on analogical transfer. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 33, 38–47.
    1. Alexander, J. M., Johnson, K. E., Leibham, M. E., Kelley, K. (2008). The development of conceptual interests in young children. Cognitive Development, 23, 324–334.
    1. Alexander, P. A., Murphy, P. K. (1998). Profiling the difference in student’s knowledge and strategic processing. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90, 435–447.
    1. Anderson, J. R., Schooler, L. J. (1991). Reflections of the environment in memory. Psychological Science, 2(6), 396–408.
    1. Baddeley, A. D. (1986). Working memory. Science, 255, 556–559. - PubMed