Browsing by Subject "Transfer"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Assessment Of Cognitive Transfer Outcomes For Students Of Introductory Statistics
    (2015-10) Beckman, Matthew
    This study chronicles the creation of an assessment tool that quantifies cognitive transfer outcomes for introductory statistics students. Literature suggested that outcomes associated with cognitive transfer are closely aligned with statistical thinking and are indicative of students’ ability to apply learning to novel scenarios beyond the classroom. No assessment tool had been developed and published for the purpose of measuring cognitive transfer outcomes among statistics students. The results of this study suggest that the Introductory Statistics Understanding and Discernment Outcomes (I-STUDIO) assessment tool may effectively serve this purpose. The assessment tool was developed according to a rigorous protocol of expert feedback and iterative piloting. Data were collected and analyzed from a nationwide sample of nearly 2,000 students attending a wide variety of post-secondary institutions, and the I-STUDIO instrument was found to measure both forward-reaching and backward-reaching high road transfer outcomes with good psychometric properties. Data analysis indicated high reliability and diverse validity evidence. This evidence included confirmatory factor analysis models with compelling alignment to the theoretical model and analysis of qualitative themes among expert feedback. Analysis of scoring consistency also showed strong inter-rater agreement. Although the sample size of the scored responses is somewhat small by convention for item response theory, a graded response model generally showed good item functioning. Furthermore, the data suggested that the I-STUDIO assessment estimated student ability with consistent precision across a wide range of above-average and below-average students. Teachers and researchers can use I-STUDIO for comparing outcomes of alternative curricula. Additionally, the I-STUDIO instrument can be used to measure the effect of curriculum changes designed to improve transfer outcomes. Furthermore, the instrument and scoring rubric were designed to accommodate diverse curricula for the purpose of refining course outcomes.
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    An Eye-Tracking Study of Experience-Driven Attention and Transfer to Related Tasks
    (2016-09) Salovich, Nikita A
    Spatial attention is frequently influenced by previous experiences, often without explicit awareness. This influence of previous experiences on spatial attention can lead to statistical learning and the formation of habitual attention––the tendency to prioritize locations that were frequently attended to in the past. The present study evaluated whether habitual attention transfers from a relatively impoverished task to a more realistic task as a first step in exploring the real-world applications of trained statistical learning. We induced habitual attention by training participants with a simple visual search task, which involved searching for the letter T amongst many letter Ls. This task was interleaved with a more realistic visual search task, where participants searched for an arrow against a road scene. Consistent with previous research, participants acquired habitual attention within T-among-L search task. Analyses of first saccadic eye movement, but not reaction time, showed a short-term transfer of habitual attention between the T-among-L search task and the map search task. Keywords: habitual attention, statistical learning, probability cuing, visual search
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    Teaching for transfer of an evidence-based reading strategy: an experimental field trial.
    (2012-04) Pinto, Viveca Victoria
    The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of explicitly teaching for transfer of PALS, and to examine whether transfer training helped participants maintain the strategy taught. Sixty-two participants from two third-grade classrooms and one fourth-grade classroom participated in the study. A pretest-posttest-maintenance control group design was used, in which participants within classroom were matched on their one-min oral reading scores and assigned randomly to receive PALS plus transfer training (n = 31) or PALS practice only (n = 31). Proximal and distal measures were used to assess transfer. Proximal measures were defined as measures closely aligned to the intervention and included main idea identification of narrative and informational text. Distal measures assessed general reading competence and were not closely aligned to the strategy taught. A repeated measures ANOVA was conducted with time (pretest, posttest, and maintenance) as the within-subject factor, and treatment (PALS vs. PALS plus transfer training) as the between-subjects factor. On the main idea identification of narrative text, there was a significant main effect of time, but the main effect of condition and the interaction of time by condition was non-significant. On the main idea identification of informational text, there was a significant main effect of time, and the interaction of time by condition approached significance, with participants receiving PALS plus transfer training correctly identifying and producing more main idea statement (ES = .04). On the distal measures, there were significant main effects of time, but no significant effects of condition, or interactions of time by condition. Implications for educational practice and future research directions are discussed.
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    Transfer of Proprioceptive and Motor Learning In Upper Limb Joints
    (2020-06) Zhu, Huiying
    Proprioceptive training has been shown to improve motor performance as well as joint proprioceptive function. What is unclear is to what extent such sensory training transfers to other neighboring or homologous joints or limbs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which proprioceptive training at one joint transfers to other joints. Specifically, I examined how the training of the right wrist joint improves proprioceptive acuity and motor performance in the ipsilateral elbow and the contralateral wrist joint. Methods: Thirty-two, healthy right-handed adults (mean age: 24.1yrs; 13 males) underwent a 3-day proprioceptive training regimen that trained their right, dominant wrists. They were randomly assigned to either an ipsilateral or contralateral transfer group. On each day, position sense acuity and motor performance of the trained right wrist and the untrained right elbow or left wrist was assessed before and after training. On Day 2, participants used a virtual reality environment combined with a wrist robotic exoskeleton to balance a virtual ball on a virtual table performing continuous, small amplitude wrist flexion/extension movements. Assessment of the right or left wrist was conducted using the same wrist robot, while the elbow function was assessed using a custom-built elbow manipulandum. The retention test was assessed 24 hours after proprioceptive training. A just-noticeable difference (JND) position sense threshold was obtained as a measure of position sense acuity. Motor accuracy error (MAE) between reference and matched joint positions during a goal-directed pointing movement (different from training) served as a measure of untrained motor performance. Results: First, proprioception training induced a significant reduction in the JND threshold (28.5%) and MAE (31.4%) at the trained, right wrist in both groups (p < 0.05). Second, right-wrist proprioceptive training led to significant gains in JND threshold (34.7%) and MAE (20.1%) at the ipsilateral untrained elbow. Third, right-wrist proprioceptive training led to significant gains in the JND threshold (31.8%), but no changes in MAE at the contralateral untrained wrist. Fourth, learning effects on untrained motor performance at the ipsilateral untrained elbow, and position sense acuity at the contralateral untrained wrist were not retained after 24 hours. Discussion: Proprioceptive training improved participants’ position sense acuity and untrained motor performance in the trained joint. This study provides evidence that such improvement in sensory or motor performance can transfer to neighboring or homologous joints. This provides a basis for the transfer of proprioceptive training programs for specific clinical populations with unilateral injury and immobilization.
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    Using Testing To Potentiate Learning From Expository Texts
    (2013-05) Lewis, Mark
    This dissertation proposes a novel approach for improving learning using testing. A growing body of research has demonstrated that testing can be a powerful tool not just for assessing - but also for enhancing learning. However, previous research has only demonstrated that testing can increase past learning (i.e., learning from materials encountered prior to testing). By contrast, this dissertation proposes that testing can also be used to potentiate future learning (i.e., learning from new materials encountered for the first time after testing). According to the proposed model, testing potentiates future learning by producing generative knowledge bases. These generative knowledge bases are composed of featurally-rich memory traces that are fluently retrieved during future text processing, supporting comprehension, learning, and even conceptual change. This proposal is tested in three experiments using naturalistic expository texts. Experiment 1 replicated previous findings of test-enhanced learning and extended them to rich expository texts on topics in psychological science: being tested on a text increased the amount of information participants learned from that text relative to an equivalent amount of restudy, as indicated by delayed tests administered a week later. Experiment 2 demonstrated that testing potentiates future learning and conceptual change: being tested on a text increased the amount of information that participants learned from a new, but related, text that negated, qualified and elaborated the original text. Experiment 3 demonstrated that testing can potentiate future learning as measured by educationally relevant tasks: being tested on a recently read text improved students' critical essays and short answer questions about a new text encountered after testing. Experiment 3 also demonstrated that strongly held beliefs can interfere with the benefits of testing, preventing test-potentiated conceptual change. These results contribute to and extend the emerging view of testing as a valuable tool for promoting learning and represent a new tool for improving learning from expository texts.