Coda - Deep-Context Teaching for Transfer

Abstract

Deep-context teaching involves addressing the conditions surrounding a subject matter, in general, and students' expectations, beliefs, and values relating to learning, in specific. Deep-context teaching is directly related to motivating and readying students for deep learning. Deep context is crucially important because it filters how students encode the information they receive, which in turn influences how they are able to store it, retrieve it, and apply it; all of which influences transfer. The degree to which deep context needs to be addressed, and how it is to be applied, depends on a number of factors. One obvious factor is the grade level of the student. A second factor is the individual level of awareness and motivation for learning. For the underprepared student, the benefit of deep-context teaching is largely an increase in motivation and readiness to learn, whereas for the higher-ability student the increase seems to be the integration and transfer of the learning. A third factor is the degree to which deep context needs to be addressed and the fourth is how it is to be addressed in a specific subject matter. There is a downside to deep-context teaching however, the time spent dealing with deep contexts reduces the traditional time committed to directly teaching the subject matter itself. So teachers must make a decision about whether the priority is effectively teaching to all students in a class, or to reduce the amount of deep-context teaching by directing it to only a certain proportion of students.