The main purpose of this study was to examine the possibilities and limitations of transferring knowledge learned to different contexts and content areas. After reviewing relevant studies in different areas, the author suggested that the definition of knowledge transfer was still controversial . There was no clear boundary between new learning and transfer. It was also suggested that knowledge transfer involved sophisticated psychological processes and would not happen naturally. Transfer of knowledge in most of the cases was bound to the contexts where knowledge was acquired and the specific content with which a specific piece of knowledge related.The possibility of knowledge transfer related to the ways knowledge was learned, represented, and organized. It also related to the contextual similarities among learning tasks. In most of the cases, knowledge acquired in school as abstract subject content and learned without reflective thinking would result in inertness. Careful cultivation was needed in order to promote knowledge transfer. |