The effects of interleaved practice

Previous research shows that interleaving rather than blocking practice of different skills (e.g. abcbcacab instead of aaabbbccc) usually improves subsequent test performance. Yet interleaving, but not blocking, ensures that practice of any particular skill is distributed, or spaced, because any two opportunities to practice the same task are not consecutive. Hence, because spaced practice typically improves test performance, the previously observed test benefits of interleaving may be due to spacing rather than interleaving per se. In the experiment reported herein, children practiced four kinds of mathematics problems in an order that was interleaved or blocked, and the degree of spacing was fixed. The interleaving of practice impaired practice session performance yet doubled scores on a test given one day later. An analysis of the errors suggested that interleaving boosted test scores by improving participants' ability to pair each problem with the appropriate procedure. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spontaneous inferential processing while reading interleaved expository texts enables learners to discover the underlying regularities

Recent studies on text sequencing found learning advantages of interleaving over blocking in terms of high‐level inferences. We conducted a 2 × 2 × 2 mixed factorial experiment with college students (n = 117) by manipulating text sequence (interleaved vs. blocked) and self‐questioning activity while reading (spontaneous vs. prompted) between subjects and testing delay (immediately vs. 1‐week delay) within subjects. Results revealed that students are spontaneously engaged in self‐questioning and inferential processing while reading an interleaved text. Students who were spontaneously engaged while reading an interleaved text outperformed their counterparts in all other conditions in the immediate and delayed test on comparative reasoning, inductive reasoning, and memorization of factual details. The learning advantages were mediated by inductive inferences made while reading an interleaved text. Results support the discriminative contrast view that readers are encouraged to discover the underlying regularities when differences and similarities among categories are accentuated by their juxtaposition.     

Learning Painting Styles: Spacing is Advantageous when it Promotes Discriminative Contrast

Repetitions that are distributed over time benefit long‐term retention more than when massed. Recent research has suggested that the advantage of spacing may extend to induction learning‐‐learners were better able to identify the artists of previously unseen paintings when, during training, artists' paintings were spaced (paintings by different artists were interleaved) rather than massed (a given artist's paintings were blocked and presented consecutively). Increasing temporal spacing between paintings while maintaining a presentation sequence that was blocked by artist produced test performance no better than massed presentation (both worse than interleaved presentation) (Experiment 1). Displaying paintings by different artists simultaneously produced test performance as good as interleaved presentation and better than massed presentation (Experiment 2). Our findings argue that spacing benefits perceptual induction learning not because of increased temporal spacing per se but rather because interleaving paintings by different artists enhances discriminative contrast between the artists' styles. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Metacognition in motor learning

Research on judgments of verbal learning has demonstrated that participants' judgments are unreliable and often overconfident. The authors studied judgments of perceptual-motor learning. Participants learned 3 keystroke patterns on the number pad of a computer, each requiring that a different sequence of keys be struck in a different total movement time. Practice trials on each pattern were either blocked or randomly interleaved with trials on the other patterns, and each participant was asked, periodically, to predict his or her performance on a 24-hr test. Consistent with earlier findings, blocked practice enhanced acquisition but harmed retention. Participants, though, predicted better performance given blocked practice. These results augment research on judgments of verbal learning and suggest that humans, at their peril, interpret current ease of access to a perceptual-motor skill as a valid index of learning.     

Investigating Optimal Memory Enhancement Procedures in Foreign Language Learning

We investigated the effects of learning schedule and multi‐modality stimulus presentation on foreign language vocabulary learning. In Experiment 1, participants learned German vocabulary words utilizing three learning methods that were organized either in a blocked or interleaved fashion. We found interleaving with the keyword mnemonic and rote study advantageous over blocking, but retrieval practice was better served in a blocked schedule. It is likely that the excessively delayed feedback for the retrieval practice in the interleaved practice schedule impeded learning while the spacing involved in the interleaved schedule enhanced learning in the keyword mnemonic and rote study. In Experiment 2, we examined whether a multi‐modality stimulus presentation from visual and auditory channels is better suited for aiding learning over a visual presentation condition. We found benefits of multi‐modality presentation only for the keyword mnemonic condition, presumably because the nature of the keyword mnemonic involving sound and visualization was particularly relevant with the multi‐modality presentation. The present study suggests that optimal foreign language learning environments should incorporate learning schedules and multimedia presentations based on specific learning methods and materials. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

任务数量与工作记忆容量对交错学习的影响

研究以分子结构式为材料,让被试在单任务或双任务条件下以集中呈现和交错呈现的方式进行学习,并通过操作广度、旋转广度和对称广度任务测量工作记忆容量（working memory capacity, WMC）,探究在基于规则类别学习中交错呈现优势的稳定性。结果显示,交错呈现优势仅体现在文科生中;而对于理科生,集中呈现效果较佳。另外,任务数量和WMC均不影响交错呈现优势,表明交错呈现优势稳定存在于单任务和双任务条件中,且不同WMC的个体均能从交错学习获益。     

Improving sixth-grade students perceptions of high-effort assignments by assigning more work: Interaction of additive interspersal and assignment effort on assignment choice

Sixth-grade students were exposed to two pairs of mathematics assignments. Assignment Pair A included a high-effort and a moderate-effort assignment, each containing 18 three-digit by two-digit (3×2) problems. Assignment Pair B was similar except the high-effort assignment contained six additional one-digit by one-digit (1×1) problems interspersed following every third 3×2 problem. After exposure to each pair of assignments, students ranked assignments and chose a new assignment for homework. Analysis of Assignment Pair A data showed students preferred the moderate-effort assignment. Analysis of interactions showed that interspersing the additional brief problems to the high-effort assignment caused significantly more students to choose the high-effort assignment for homework and rank it as requiring less effort and time to complete and as being less difficult than the moderate-effort assignment. Results support the hypothesis that a discrete task is a reinforcer and suggest that educators can increase the probability of students engaging in more challenging assignments that require more effort to complete by interspersing additional brief tasks. Applied and theoretical implications are discussed along with future research.     

The effects of overlearning and distributed practise on the retention of mathematics knowledge

In two experiments, 216 college students learned to solve one kind of mathematics problem before completing one of various practise schedules. In Experiment 1, students either massed 10 problems in a single session or distributed these 10 problems across two sessions separated by 1 week. The benefit of distributed practise was nil among students who were tested 1 week later but extremely large among students tested 4 weeks later. In Experiment 2, students completed three or nine practise problems in one session. The additional six problems constituted a strategy known as overlearning, but this extra effort had no effect on test scores 1 or 4 weeks later. Thus, long‐term retention was boosted by distributed practise and unaffected by overlearning. Unfortunately, most mathematics textbooks rely on a format that emphasises overlearning and minimises distributed practise. An easily adopted alternative format is advocated. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Models of performance in learning multisegment movement tasks: consequences for acquisition,retention, and judgments of learning

Participants learned different keystroke patterns, each requiring that a key sequence be struck in a prescribed time. Trials of a given pattern were either blocked or interleaved randomly with trials on the other patterns and before each trial modeled timing information was presented that either matched or mismatched the movement to be executed next. In acquisition, blocked practice and matching models supported better performance than did random practice and mismatching models. In retention, however, random practice and mismatching models were associated with superior learning. Judgments of learning made during practice were more in line with acquisition than with retention performance, providing further evidence that a learner's current ease of access to a motor skill is a poor indicator of learning benefit.     

注意和工作记忆对交错呈现优势的影响

以家族相似性图案为材料,让被试在单任务或双任务条件下以集中呈现或交错呈现的方式进行观察（实验1）或反馈（实验2）学习,记录眼动,探究注意对交错呈现优势的影响,以及工作记忆在其中的作用。发现当进行观察学习时,注意影响交错呈现优势,结果支持区别对比理论和注意衰减理论;当进行反馈学习时,注意的影响还有待进一步探究。同时,工作记忆影响交错呈现优势,但工作记忆并非完全通过影响注意从而影响交错呈现优势。     

Putting category learning in order: Category structure and temporal arrangement affect the benefit of interleaved over blocked study

Recent research in inductive category learning has demonstrated that interleaved study of category exemplars results in better performance than does studying each category in separate blocks. However, the questions of how the category structure influences this advantage and how simultaneous presentation interacts with the advantage are open issues. In this article, we present three experiments. The first experiment indicates that the advantage of interleaved over blocked study is modulated by the structure of the categories being studied. More specifically, interleaved study results in better generalization for categories with high within- and between-category similarity, whereas blocked presentation results in better generalization for categories with low within- and between-category similarity. In Experiment 2, we present evidence that when presented simultaneously, between-category comparisons (interleaved presentation) result in a performance advantage for high-similarity categories, but no differences were found for low-similarity categories. In Experiment 3, we directly compared simultaneous and successive presentation of low-similarity categories. We again found an overall benefit for blocked study with these categories. Overall, these results are consistent with the proposal that interleaving emphasizes differences between categories, whereas blocking emphasizes the discovery of commonalities among objects within the same category.     

Getting Students to Choose to Do More Work: Evidence of the Effectiveness of the Interspersal Procedure

College students were exposed to two sets of mathematics assignments. For each set students were given an experimental and a control assignment. The control assignments contained 15 three-digit by two-digit target problems. The experimental assignments contained 18 similar target problems as well as six one-digit by one-digit multiplication problems interspersed after every third target problem. In the first assignment set, students were asked to work each assignment for 5 minutes. Although the experimental assignments contained more target problems, results showed that significantly more students chose the experimental assignment and rated it as less difficult and as requiring less effort to complete. In the second assignment set, students were asked to complete both assignments. Again significantly more students rated the experimental assignment as being less difficult and as requiring less effort to complete. Although more students chose the experimental assignment for homework, this difference was not significant. Discussion focuses on using the interspersal procedure to enhance students' perceptions of assignments and alter their choice behavior.     

College student normative misperceptions of peer study habit use

We examined the extent to which college students’ self-reported study strategy use relates to perceived peer strategy use, allowing us to determine whether college students misperceive peers’ use of different study strategies. College students (n = 195) reported their use and perceived peer use of 10 different study strategies. Study strategy use positively related to GPA. Moreover, students perceived higher rates of peers’ use of relatively ineffective strategies (e.g., highlighting/underlining) and perceived lower rates of peers’ use of the highly effective strategy of distributing practice, compared to actual reports. Perceiving that peers are more likely to utilize ineffective strategies and less likely to utilize effective strategies may contribute to continued use of counterproductive or ineffective study behavior.     

Using Detect, Practice, and Repair (DPR) to Differentiate and Individualize Math Fact Instruction in a Class-Wide Setting

A multiple baseline design was used across probe sets to evaluate the effect of detect, practice, and repair (DPR) on the math fact fluency rates of a third-grade class. DPR was applied with a large group (n = 11) selected from an intact class (n = 17) in a manner that allowed each student to work on specific problems from a specific basic fact operation (i.e., subtraction, multiplication, or division) based on a daily assessment of their instructional needs. Prior to the implementation of DPR, students were computing an average of 18.4 digits correct per minute (DCPM). After using DPR for 11 sessions, students were computing an average of 31.2 DCPM. This 12.8 DCPM increase over 36 problems required approximately 132 min (12 min per session). Discussion focuses on the need for and challenges associated with developing intervention strategies and procedures that efficiently increase student skills at the class-wide level, with an emphasis on simultaneously meeting the needs of both high and low achievers by differentiating instruction.     

Seeing How It Sounds: Observation,Imitation, and Improved Learning in Piano Playing

This study centers upon a piano learning and teaching environment in which beginners and intermediate piano students (N = 48) learning to perform a specific type of staccato were submitted to three different (group-exclusive) teaching conditions: audio-only demonstration of the musical task; observation of the teacher's action demonstration followed by student imitation (blocked observation); and observation of the teacher's action demonstration while alternating imitation of the task with the teacher's performance (interleaved observation). Students submitted to interleaved observation were more proficient at the learned task with no significant differences for students of different proficiency levels.     

Effects of strategy sequences and response–stimulus intervals on children’s strategy selection and strategy execution: A study in computational estimation

The present study investigates how children’s better strategy selection and strategy execution on a given problem are influenced by which strategy was used on the immediately preceding problem and by the duration between their answer to the previous problem and current problem display. These goals are pursued in the context of an arithmetic problem solving task. Third and fifth graders were asked to select the better strategy to find estimates to two-digit addition problems like 36 + 78. On each problem, children could choose rounding-down (i.e., rounding both operands down to the closest smaller decades, like doing 40 + 60 to solve 42 + 67) or rounding-up strategies (i.e., rounding both operands up to the closest larger decades, like doing 50 + 70 to solve 42 + 67). Children were tested under a short RSI condition (i.e., the next problem was displayed 900 ms after participants’ answer) or under a long RSI condition (i.e., the next problem was displayed 1,900 ms after participants’ answer). Results showed that both strategy selection (e.g., children selected the better strategy more often under long RSI condition and after selecting the poorer strategy on the immediately preceding problem) and strategy execution (e.g., children executed strategy more efficiently under long RSI condition and were slower when switching strategy over two consecutive problems) were influenced by RSI and which strategy was used on the immediately preceding problem. Moreover, data showed age-related changes in effects of RSI and strategy sequence on mean percent better strategy selection and on strategy performance. The present findings have important theoretical and empirical implications for our understanding of general and specific processes involved in strategy selection, strategy execution, and strategic development.     

The effects of interleaving versus blocking on foreign language pronunciation learning

Many studies have shown that students learn better when they are given repeated exposures to different concepts in a way that is shuffled or interleaved, rather than blocked (e.g., Rohrer Educational Psychology Review, 24, 355–367, 2012). The present study explored the effects of interleaving versus blocking on learning French pronunciations. Native English speakers learned several French words that conformed to specific pronunciation rules (e.g., the long “o” sound formed by the letter combination “eau,” as in bateau), and these rules were presented either in blocked fashion (bateau, carreau, fardeau . . . mouton, genou, verrou . . . tandis, verglas, admis) or in interleaved fashion (bateau, mouton, tandis, carreau, genou, verglas . . .). Blocking versus interleaving was manipulated within subjects (Experiments 1–3) or between subjects (Experiment 4), and participants’ pronunciation proficiency was later tested through multiple-choice tests (Experiments 1, 2, and 4) or a recall test (Experiment 3). In all experiments, blocking benefited the learning of pronunciations more than did interleaving, and this was true whether participants learned only 4 words per rule (Experiments 1–3) or 15 words per rule (Experiment 4). Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Identifying Children at Risk of Problematic Development: Latent Clusters Among Childhood Arrestees

The presence of clusters characterized by distinct profiles of individual, family and peer characteristics among childhood arrestees was investigated and cluster membership stability after 2 years was determined. Identification of such clusters in this heterogeneous at-risk group can extend insight into the presence and severity of children’s co-occurring problems and guide intervention and prevention efforts. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to detect clusters among 308 childhood arrestees (mean age 10.7 years), based on dichotomous dynamic correlates of offending present at the time of first arrest. Correlates in the individual, peer and family domains were assessed at baseline and 2-year follow-up, using standardized instruments. This resulted in identification of a low problem group characterized by few problems across all domains (40.2 %), an externalizing intermediate problem group characterized by mainly externalizing problems on the individual and peer domains (39.4 %), and a pervasive high problem group characterized by numerous problems across all domains (20.4 %). Cluster membership was most stable for the low problem group (71.4 %), followed by the externalizing intermediate problem group (49.5 %). Transition was highest in the pervasive high problem group (63.0 %), with the majority of children progressing to the externalizing intermediate problem group. The identification of such distinct clusters among childhood arrestees, differing in the presence of co-occurring problems, stresses the importance of a first police arrest as an opportunity for early recognition of children in need of care. As problems present at the time of first arrest do not persist in every child, careful periodic monitoring is needed.     

Improving sixth-grade students perceptions of high-effort assignments by assigning more work: Interaction of additive interspersal and assignment effort on assignment choice

Sixth-grade students were exposed to two pairs of mathematics assignments. Assignment Pair A included a high-effort and a moderate-effort assignment, each containing 18 three-digit by two-digit (3×2) problems. Assignment Pair B was similar except the high-effort assignment contained six additional one-digit by one-digit (1×1) problems interspersed following every third 3×2 problem. After exposure to each pair of assignments, students ranked assignments and chose a new assignment for homework. Analysis of Assignment Pair A data showed students preferred the moderate-effort assignment. Analysis of interactions showed that interspersing the additional brief problems to the high-effort assignment caused significantly more students to choose the high-effort assignment for homework and rank it as requiring less effort and time to complete and as being less difficult than the moderate-effort assignment. Results support the hypothesis that a discrete task is a reinforcer and suggest that educators can increase the probability of students engaging in more challenging assignments that require more effort to complete by interspersing additional brief tasks. Applied and theoretical implications are discussed along with future research.     

Who Benefits from Diagrams and Illustrations in Math Problems? Ability and Attitudes Matter

How do diagrams and illustrations affect mathematical problem solving? Past research suggests that diagrams should promote correct performance. However, illustrations may provide a supportive context for problem solving, or they may distract students with seductive details. Moreover, effects may not be uniform across student subgroups. This study assessed the effects of diagrams and illustrations on undergraduates' trigonometry problem solving. We used a 2 (Diagram Presence) × 2 (Illustration Presence) within‐subjects design, and our analysis considered students' mathematics ability and attitudes towards mathematics. Participants solved problems more accurately when they included diagrams. This effect was stronger for students who had more positive mathematics attitudes, especially when there was an illustration present. Illustrations were beneficial for students with high mathematics ability but detrimental for students with lower ability. Considering individual differences in ability and attitude is essential for understanding the effects of different types of visual representations on problem solving. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.