Benjamin Keep, PhD, JD | Secrets of Interleaved Practice | How Learning Works @benjaminkeep | Uploaded July 2021 | Updated October 2024, 3 hours ago.
Can rearranging the order in which you solve problems accelerate your learning? You bet. This is a breakdown of the idea of interleaving (as opposed to blocked practice), with a couple of tips for using interleaving more effectively.
00:00 Introduction
00:22 Defining blocked practice
01:03 Defining interleaved practice
01:46 The logic behind blocked practice: collecting skills
02:30 Interleaved practice spaces out your practice (which offers one advantage)
03:37 Interleaved practice helps us distinguish things
04:11 Interleaved practice focuses on the right skill
05:02 Time for a test
06:10 Findings from a study on interleaving math homework
07:13 When introducing new topics, start off with blocked practice
07:36 Interleaved practice is not task-switching
Sign up to my email newsletter, Avoiding Folly, here: benjaminkeep.com
References
For a more detailed take, I recommend checking out:
Pan, S. C. (2015). The interleaving effect: mixing it up boosts learning. Sci Am, 313(2) (currently available here: researchgate.net/profile/Steven-Pan-4/publication/281454770_The_interleaving_effect_mixing_it_up_boosts_learning/links/55e8a90f08ae3e12184244b5/The-interleaving-effect-mixing-it-up-boosts-learning.pdf)
For advice on interleaving in math specifically, see here: pdf.retrievalpractice.org/InterleavingGuide.pdf
The study I mentioned comparing blocked to interleaved math homework problems is below. The numbers I took were from a 30-day delayed test. Delayed tests are where you often see the largest gains for interleaved practice.
Rohrer, D., Dedrick, R. F., & Stershic, S. (2015). Interleaved practice improves mathematics learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 107(3), 900. (currently available here: files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED557355.pdf)
On the idea “blocking first”:
Sorensen, L. J., & Woltz, D. J. (2016). Blocking as a friend of induction in verbal category learning. Memory & cognition, 44(7), 1000-1013.
The photo of Kelvin Herrera was taken from wikipedia and can be found here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin_Herrera#/media/File:Kelvin_Herrera_on_May_25,_2012.jpg
The photo of the wren:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Carolina_Wren1.jpg/1200px-Carolina_Wren1.jpg
The photo of the sparrow:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Tree_Sparrow_August_2007_Osaka_Japan.jpg/1200px-Tree_Sparrow_August_2007_Osaka_Japan.jpg
Bird cartoon:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Icon_Bird_512x512.png
Can rearranging the order in which you solve problems accelerate your learning? You bet. This is a breakdown of the idea of interleaving (as opposed to blocked practice), with a couple of tips for using interleaving more effectively.
00:00 Introduction
00:22 Defining blocked practice
01:03 Defining interleaved practice
01:46 The logic behind blocked practice: collecting skills
02:30 Interleaved practice spaces out your practice (which offers one advantage)
03:37 Interleaved practice helps us distinguish things
04:11 Interleaved practice focuses on the right skill
05:02 Time for a test
06:10 Findings from a study on interleaving math homework
07:13 When introducing new topics, start off with blocked practice
07:36 Interleaved practice is not task-switching
Sign up to my email newsletter, Avoiding Folly, here: benjaminkeep.com
References
For a more detailed take, I recommend checking out:
Pan, S. C. (2015). The interleaving effect: mixing it up boosts learning. Sci Am, 313(2) (currently available here: researchgate.net/profile/Steven-Pan-4/publication/281454770_The_interleaving_effect_mixing_it_up_boosts_learning/links/55e8a90f08ae3e12184244b5/The-interleaving-effect-mixing-it-up-boosts-learning.pdf)
For advice on interleaving in math specifically, see here: pdf.retrievalpractice.org/InterleavingGuide.pdf
The study I mentioned comparing blocked to interleaved math homework problems is below. The numbers I took were from a 30-day delayed test. Delayed tests are where you often see the largest gains for interleaved practice.
Rohrer, D., Dedrick, R. F., & Stershic, S. (2015). Interleaved practice improves mathematics learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 107(3), 900. (currently available here: files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED557355.pdf)
On the idea “blocking first”:
Sorensen, L. J., & Woltz, D. J. (2016). Blocking as a friend of induction in verbal category learning. Memory & cognition, 44(7), 1000-1013.
The photo of Kelvin Herrera was taken from wikipedia and can be found here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin_Herrera#/media/File:Kelvin_Herrera_on_May_25,_2012.jpg
The photo of the wren:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Carolina_Wren1.jpg/1200px-Carolina_Wren1.jpg
The photo of the sparrow:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Tree_Sparrow_August_2007_Osaka_Japan.jpg/1200px-Tree_Sparrow_August_2007_Osaka_Japan.jpg
Bird cartoon:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Icon_Bird_512x512.png
