I was asked to give a workshop last year to a group of grade school teachers on the issue of knowledge transfer. The reason for the workshop was teachers’ perceptions that students moved from grade to grade and subject to subject apparently treating each grade or subject in isolation and not applying the skills and knowledge from one grade or subject to the next.
This issue necessitates redundancy in teaching, and worse, lost chances to build and expand on students’ skills and knowledge across their academic development.
In thinking about this issue as college educators, consider the following two questions:
1) When you meet your students at the beginning of a semester, what expectations do you have about the knowledge the students should bring to your classroom?
2) What expectations do students have about the knowledge they should bring to the classroom?
The answer to the first question might be extensive.
For example, I want my students to know how to make an argument, what constitutes evidence for an argument, why things like labeling and generalizations can be problematic, how to study and take notes, and the list goes on!
The answer to the second question might be “None!”
So you see one of the first things we can do is set clear expectations about knowledge transfer for our students.
The reason a student’s list might be shorter than her teacher’s is that students might expect each new classroom to be a brand new challenge. There is a new instructor to figure out, a new set of concepts to learn, a new style of testing, a new form of classroom discussion. To a student, understandably, each new class and each new instructor might feel entirely new! So, why would they apply knowledge from prior classroom experiences to this one?
That your expectations and your students’ expectations might differ is not inherently a bad thing, but it does call for you as the instructor to make your expectations clear!
Once expectations are better matched, the next step as instructors is to find ways to promote knowledge transfer across classes and disciplines.
Some ideas:
1) Portfolios
Within disciplines, students might develop portfolios that will be carried over from one course level to the next. A second-year calculus (or second-year writing, etc.) teacher could see some of a students’ work from the first-year calculus (or first-year writing, etc.) class. Students and teachers could include goals and feedback to facilitate development rather than re-starting from one course level to the next.
2) Teach-Backs
A component of an advanced course in any discipline could be to teach-back foundational concepts to students in first-year courses in that discipline. This could be done verbally through mini-lessons, or in writing, through summary sheets.
3) Previewing
In your classroom, make a point to elicit prior knowledge, and “preview” subjects as you move through course content.
4) Inter-disciplinary collaboration
Talk to other instructors – in other disciplines!
Perhaps a writing course could team up with a math course to partner students for a project that integrates narrative and mathematical formulation. The possibilities are endless!
Special thanks to the 2015-2016 WAC Fellows at Brooklyn College with whom these ideas were developed!
