Coweta Impact
October 2017
The quality of teaching makes all the difference.
Surface, Deep and Transfer Learning
So what is it?
Think about learning to drive a car. At first, you had to learn basic information about the car and traffic rules. Examples include questions such as which is the gas pedal, which is the brake, how do I crank the car, what do the letters on the gear shift mean, how do I make it go, and how do I make it stop? These are low level types of learning (and what Hattie calls surface learning). Surface learning is very important because without it, we would never learn to drive the car. Simply acquiring this information does not mean that we know how to drive a car.
Next, we might move to actually driving the car slowly on a side road or in a parking lot with an experienced driver in the car helping to guide our progress. This is a deeper level of learning allowing us to practice what we have learned and apply it to the current situation. At this level, we have a chance to organize our thoughts and our skills and use them.
And then comes the transfer level...
Eventually (hopefully), we will progress to a point that not only can we drive our car, but also our learned skills are transferred allowing us to drive at night, in the rain and in heavy traffic - beyond the side street where we have practiced so many times. Our skills will also develop so that we can now drive a different car, if needed, because we can transfer our surface and deep learning and apply it in a completely different situation.
Can you think of what these levels could look like in your classroom?
Learning Intentions: Surface, deep or transfer
With appropriate instruction, surface learning can become deep understanding as students learn to relate and extend ideas. All of the work that we do as educators can be for naught if students fail to appropriately transfer the learning. At the transfer level, students see the relevancy in what they are learning and can determine when and how to apply the skill to fit the new situation.
High Impact Literacy Approaches at Each Phase of Learning
Surface vs. Deep Learning
What teaching approaches support surface learning? deep learning?
Difficulty vs. Complexity - what is the difference?
Learning Intentions - What are they?
Effective educators know and focus on what students will be LEARNING rather than what students will be DOING during class. Teacher clarity about expected learning and what that level of learning looks like is powerful. The effect size of teacher clarity is 0.75 - almost two years growth! Learning intentions are easier to understand than content standards. Learning intentions are typically broken down into specific skills
Secondary Level Video of Learning Intentions
Success Criteria
One more video...
Sources
Fisher, D., Frey, N. & Hattie, J. (2017) Teaching Literacy in the Visible Learning Classroom K-5. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Fisher, D., Frey, N. & Hattie, J. (2017) Teaching Literacy in the Visible Learning Classroom 6-12.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Fisher, D., Frey, N. & Hattie, J. (2016) Visible Learning for Literacy. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Corwin.
Hattie, J. (2009) Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement.
Hattie, J (2012) Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning. New York:
Routledge.
Ivey, M. (Producer). Targeting Learning with Success Criteria. Available from