ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses specifically on transfer of learning from mathematics to physics contexts. Transfer of learning, which has sometimes been considered to be the ultimate goal of education, is often described as the ability to apply what one has learned in one situation to a different situation. Contemporary models of transfer have gone beyond focusing solely on the cognitive aspects of transfer. Problem solving in semistructured and unstructured domains often involves the transfer of knowledge and skills from a structured domain to the semistructured or unstructured domain. A similar distinction was made by Bransford and Schwartz when they compared two measures of transfer—"sequestered problem solving" and "preparation for future learning". The gain on the contextual questions was correlated with the online trigonometry homework assignments and the pre-instruction survey mathematics question scores. Many physics and engineering educators often lament that their students do not enter their class with the adequate mathematics preparation.
