Retrieval Activities
One of the greatest strategies cognitive science has found for improving transfer is practiced retrieval. The benefits reaped from retrieval exercises exist because ”the increased effort required to retrieve the learning after a little forgetting has the effect of retriggering consolidation, further strengthening memory” (Brown, Roediger, and McDaniels 49). Research supports low-stakes testing that asks students to "recall what they know and process what they don't know" (Klemm as cited by Schwartz np). Asking students to "self-quizz" can also act to strengthen neural pathways and consolidate memory (Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel 4). Other classroom practices that produce big dividends for transfer are reflection, metacognition, and multimodal conversion.
Reflection
Perhaps the most effective transfer tool we possess in the composition classroom is reflective writing. Reflection is retrieval practice aimed at reviewing information that has been previously encountered and asking questions that prime students for elaboration. Writing to reflect involves "several cognitive activities that lead to stronger learning: retrieving knowledge and earlier training from memory, connecting these to new experiences (elaboration), and visualizing and mentally rehearsing what you might do differently next time (generation)” (Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel 27). Reflecting on ones own experience is essential for making learning more meaningful and connecting learning to knowledge already stored in long-term memory (Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel 26). Klemm contends that “once students start reflecting and become more self-aware, they have the opportunity to become better students" ( Klemm as cited by Schwartz). As an advocate for reflective writing, Jody Shipka assigns students to write a reflective "statement of goals and choices" (SOGC) upon completion of a project (115). Shipka finds the SOGC valuable because students pay closer attention to the choices they are making when composing since they know they will have to account for them later (116). In Shipka's SOGC assignment, students are expected to attend to "the impact of their writerly choices as well as to the visual, material, and technological aspects of their texts and practices" (116). This sort of reflection on writerly choices helps students to formulate larger conceptualizations which can more readily transfer to future writing tasks across disciplines and is what scholars in transfer studies refer to as "bridging" (Nelms, Dively, Perkins, Salomon, Driscoll, Wardle, Beaufort). Asking students to reflect upon prior lesson material, class discussions, reading assignments, or writing projects and then relate it to something meaningful in their personal lives is a great way to activate the processes of retrieval, reconsolidation, and transfer in the composition classroom.
Metacognition
Norton and Wiburg define metacognition as "the awareness of our own thinking processes" and assert that "when educators use these technologies (computer technologies) as part of their designs for thinking (pedagogy), they offer students an intellectual environment that serves as a vehicle for bringing thinking about thinking into the open" (110). Reflective writing often serves as a tool in the classroom to stimulate metacognitive awareness, such as asking students to reflect on what they were thinking during an activity, and help students bring draw connections and build connections between material. I might push this idea of metacognitive awareness further and promote metacognitive discussion where one not only notices internal thinking but also converses with one self through critical inquiry. Metacognition can be brought about in the classroom through reflective writing, journaling, and rhetorical questioning.
Reflection
Perhaps the most effective transfer tool we possess in the composition classroom is reflective writing. Reflection is retrieval practice aimed at reviewing information that has been previously encountered and asking questions that prime students for elaboration. Writing to reflect involves "several cognitive activities that lead to stronger learning: retrieving knowledge and earlier training from memory, connecting these to new experiences (elaboration), and visualizing and mentally rehearsing what you might do differently next time (generation)” (Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel 27). Reflecting on ones own experience is essential for making learning more meaningful and connecting learning to knowledge already stored in long-term memory (Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel 26). Klemm contends that “once students start reflecting and become more self-aware, they have the opportunity to become better students" ( Klemm as cited by Schwartz). As an advocate for reflective writing, Jody Shipka assigns students to write a reflective "statement of goals and choices" (SOGC) upon completion of a project (115). Shipka finds the SOGC valuable because students pay closer attention to the choices they are making when composing since they know they will have to account for them later (116). In Shipka's SOGC assignment, students are expected to attend to "the impact of their writerly choices as well as to the visual, material, and technological aspects of their texts and practices" (116). This sort of reflection on writerly choices helps students to formulate larger conceptualizations which can more readily transfer to future writing tasks across disciplines and is what scholars in transfer studies refer to as "bridging" (Nelms, Dively, Perkins, Salomon, Driscoll, Wardle, Beaufort). Asking students to reflect upon prior lesson material, class discussions, reading assignments, or writing projects and then relate it to something meaningful in their personal lives is a great way to activate the processes of retrieval, reconsolidation, and transfer in the composition classroom.
Metacognition
Norton and Wiburg define metacognition as "the awareness of our own thinking processes" and assert that "when educators use these technologies (computer technologies) as part of their designs for thinking (pedagogy), they offer students an intellectual environment that serves as a vehicle for bringing thinking about thinking into the open" (110). Reflective writing often serves as a tool in the classroom to stimulate metacognitive awareness, such as asking students to reflect on what they were thinking during an activity, and help students bring draw connections and build connections between material. I might push this idea of metacognitive awareness further and promote metacognitive discussion where one not only notices internal thinking but also converses with one self through critical inquiry. Metacognition can be brought about in the classroom through reflective writing, journaling, and rhetorical questioning.