Defining Transfer as it Relates to Science: A Brief Review of the Literature and Implications for Assessment

A primary goal of science education is transfer. The ability to use prior learning to creatively solve new problems is especially important in the face of so-called “wicked problems” —complex issues such as climate change that will require interdisciplinary teams of innovative thinkers to resolve. Science education today must equip students to use their learning to tackle broad, intractable problems such as those laid out in the Millennium Project. However, achieving transfer is difficult for a number of reasons. Even once students are successfully instructed in ways that promote transfer, assessing that knowledge can prove difficult.