Prof Goldstone Featured in NYTimes Article

Professor Rob Goldstone's work has been featured in a recent New York Times piece on teaching abstract concepts. Toward the end of the article, Goldstone's work with local Jackson Creek Middle School students is described. His recently-published research project (with Samuel Day) investigated how abstract concepts learned in one context might spontaneously transfer to another context. This work is relevant to educators who hope that, when teaching abstract material such as mathematical operations, students will generalize what they've learned toward new situations that weren't explicitly described when learning. As the article notes, "This ability to transfer, as it’s known, is fundamental to scientific reasoning and is among the highest goals of teachers at all levels."