How does transfer occur?
Transfer refers to the application of learned knowledge in new ways or
situations, as well as to how prior learning affects new learning. In behavioral learning theories, transfer is a result of generalization. Situations
involving identical or similar features allow behaviors to transfer across
common elements. For example, the student who has learned to recognize and classify elm trees demonstrates transfer when (s)he classifies
maple trees using the same process. T e similarities between the elm and
maple trees allow the learner to apply the previous elm tree classification
learning experience to the maple tree classification task.