Spacing Simultaneously Promotes Multiple Forms of Learning in Children's Science Curriculum

Using Spacing to Promote Lasting Learning in Educational Contexts

Abstract. Spacing repeated study phases across multiple sessions instead of studying and restudying the learning material in one session only is an effective strategy to promote lasting learning. However, most studies demonstrating the spacing effect were conducted in the laboratory, using simple verbal material. Learning in educational contexts differs regarding the complexity and coherence of the learning material and concerning the role of motivational and affective learner characteristics. Studies conducted in educational contexts suggest that the spacing effect is not as robust here. For example, acquiring mathematical skills or nonrepeated, consecutive information does not reliably benefit from spacing. After an overview of studies addressing the spacing effect in the laboratory and in educational contexts, we discuss various open questions that need to be addressed by future research before recommending spacing as a learning strategy to promote meaningful and lasting learning at schools and universities.

Judging the credibility of websites: an effectiveness trial of the spacing effect in the elementary classroom

Spaced learning—the spacing effect—is a cognitive phenomenon whereby memory for to-be-learned material is better when a fixed amount of study time is spread across multiple learning sessions instead of crammed into a more condensed time period. The spacing effect has been shown to be effective across a wide range of ages and learning materials, but few studies have been conducted that look at whether spacing can be effective in real-world classrooms, using real curriculum content, with real teachers leading the intervention. In the current study, lesson plans for teaching website credibility were distributed to homeroom elementary teachers with specific instructions on how to manipulate the timing of the lessons for either a one-per-day or one-per-week delivery. One month after the final lesson, students were asked to apply their knowledge on a final test, where they evaluated two new websites. Results were mixed, suggesting that classroom noise might lessen or impede researchers’ ability to find spacing effects in naturalistic settings.

Working Memory Resources Depletion Makes Delayed Testing Beneficial

Cognitive load theory (CLT) uses working memory resources depletion to explain the superiority of spaced learning, predicting that working memory resources will be less taxed if there are resting/spacing periods inserted between learning tasks, in comparison to learning from the same tasks in a single session. This article uses the working memory resources depletion effect, as a factor, to investigate the hypothesis that delayed testing would show superior results to immediate testing on math tasks for primary students in Singapore, as participants' working memory resources might be restored because of the resting between the immediate and delayed tests. Results confirmed higher performance on the delayed test than on the immediate test, as well as more working memory resources available for the delayed test.

Spacing and Interleaving Effects Require Distinct Theoretical Bases: a Systematic Review Testing the Cognitive Load and Discriminative-Contrast Hypotheses

Spaced and interleaved practices have been identified as effective learning strategies which sometimes are conflated as a single strategy and at other times treated as distinct. Learning sessions in which studying information or practicing problems are spaced in time with rest-from-deliberate-learning periods between sessions generally result in better learning outcomes than massed practice without rest-from-deliberate-learning periods. Interleaved practice also consists of spaced sessions, but by interleaving topics rather than having rest-from-deliberate-learning periods. Interleaving is usually contrasted with blocking in which each learning topic is taught in a single block that provides an example of massed practice. The general finding that interleaved practice is more effective for learning than blocked practice is sometimes attributed to spacing. In the current paper, the presence of rest-from-deliberate-learning periods is used to distinguish between spaced and interleaved practice. We suggest that spaced practice is a cognitive load effect that can be explained by working memory resource depletion during cognitive effort with recovery during rest-from-deliberate-learning, while interleaved practice can be explained by the discriminative-contrast hypothesis positing that interleaving assists learners to discriminate between topic areas. A systematic review of the literature provides evidence for this suggestion.

Making a Lecture Stick: the Effect of Spaced Instruction on Knowledge Retention in Medical Education

INTRODUCTION

Poor knowledge retention is a persistent problem among medical students. This challenging issue may be addressed by optimizing frequently used instructional designs, such as lectures. Guided by neuroscientific literature, we designed a spaced learning lecture in which the educator repeats the to-be-learned information using short temporal intervals. We investigated if this modified instructional design could enhance students' retention.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Second-year medical students (n = 148) were randomly allocated to either the spaced lecture or the traditional lecture. The spaced lecture consisted of three 15-min instructional periods, separated by 5-min intervals. A short summary of the preceding information was provided after each interval. The traditional lecture encompassed the same information including the summary in the massed format, thus without the intervals. All students performed a baseline knowledge test 2 weeks prior to the lectures and students' knowledge retention was assessed 8 days after the lectures.

RESULTS

The average score on the retention test (α = 0.74) was not significantly different between the spaced lecture group (33.8% ± 13.6%) and the traditional lecture group (31.8% ± 12.9%) after controlling for students' baseline-test performance (F(1,104) = 0.566, p = 0.458). Students' narrative comments showed that the spaced lecture format was well-received and subjectively benefitted their attention-span and cognitive engagement.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

We were unable to show increased knowledge retention after the spaced lecture compared with the traditional lecture. Based on these findings, we provide recommendations for further research. Ultimately, we aim for optimized spaced learning designs to facilitate learning in the medical curriculum and to help educate health professionals with a solid knowledge base.

Forgetting and symbolic insight: Delay improves children's use of a novel symbol

To use a symbol, children must understand that the symbol stands for something in the world. This development has often been investigated in the model-room task in which children use a scale model to try to find a toy that is hidden in the room that the model represents. To succeed, children must acquire dual representation; they must put aside their understanding of the model as an object and focus more on what the model represents. Here we suggested that forgetting irrelevant details or misleading information may be an important part of acquiring and maintaining dual representation. Based on prior research showing that forgetting can promote insight in children and adults and that a small sample of 3-year-olds could improve on the model-room task with a delay, we hypothesized that taking a break during the model-room task would facilitate forgetting and hence symbolic insight. A total of 88 3-year-olds performed 8 trials of the model-room task. Half of the children received a 24-h delay after Trial 4, and half performed the 8 trials consecutively. Children who received a 24-h delay had better symbolic performance on the last 4 trials compared with children whose testing sessions occurred consecutively on 1 day, even when statistically controlling for the effects of learning over trials and memory on children's performance. This study provides strong initial evidence that a delay can promote symbolic insight in 3-year-old children.

A Review of the Application of Distributed Practice Principles to Naming Treatment in Aphasia

It is uncontroversial in psychological research that different schedules of practice, which govern the distribution of practice over time, can promote radically different outcomes in terms of gains in performance and the durability of learning. In contrast, in speech-language treatment research, there is a critical need for well-controlled studies examining the impact of the distribution of treatment on efficacy (for reviews, see Cherney, 2012; Warren, Fey, & Yoder, 2007). In this paper, we enumerate key findings from psychological research on learning and memory regarding how different schedules of practice differentially confer durable learning. We review existing studies of aphasia treatment with a focus on naming impairment that have examined how the distribution of practice affects treatment efficacy. We close by discussing potential productive lines of research to elaborate the clinical applicability of distributed practice principles to language treatment.

Distributed Learning in the Classroom: Effects of Rereading Schedules Depend on Time of Test

Research with adults in laboratory settings has shown that distributed rereading is a beneficial learning strategy but its effects depend on time of test. When learning outcomes are measured immediately after rereading, distributed rereading yields no benefits or even detrimental effects on learning, but the beneficial effects emerge two days later. In a preregistered experiment, the effects of distributed rereading were investigated in a classroom setting with school students. Seventh-graders (N = 191) reread a text either immediately or after 1 week. Learning outcomes were measured after 4 min or 1 week. Participants in the distributed rereading condition reread the text more slowly, predicted their learning success to be lower, and reported a lower on-task focus. At the shorter retention interval, massed rereading outperformed distributed rereading in terms of learning outcomes. Contrary to students in the massed condition, students in the distributed condition showed no forgetting from the short to the long retention interval. As a result, they performed equally well as the students in the massed condition at the longer retention interval. Our results indicate that distributed rereading makes learning more demanding and difficult and leads to higher effort during rereading. Its effects on learning depend on time of test, but no beneficial effects were found, not even at the delayed test.

Distributed retrieval practice promotes superior recall of anatomy information

Effortful retrieval produces greater long-term recall of information when compared to studying (i.e., reading), as do learning sessions that are distributed (i.e., spaced apart) when compared to those that are massed together. Although the retrieval and distributed practice effects are well-established in the cognitive science literature, no studies have examined their additive effect with regard to learning anatomy information. The aim of this study was to determine how the benefits of retrieval practice vary with massed versus distributed learning. Participants used the following strategies to learn sets of skeletal muscle anatomy: (1) studying on three different days over a seven day period (SSSS_7,2,0 ), (2) studying and retrieving on three different days over a seven day period (SRSR_7,2,0 ), (3) studying on two different days over a two day period (SSSSSS_2,0 ), (4) studying and retrieving on two separate days over a two day period (SRSRSR_2,0 ), and (5) studying and retrieving on one day (SRx6₀ ). All strategies consisted of 12 learning phases and lasted exactly 24 minutes. Muscle information retention was assessed via free recall and using repeated measures ANOVAs. A week after learning, the recall scores were 24.72 ± 3.12, 33.88 ± 3.48, 15.51 ± 2.48, 20.72 ± 2.94, and 12.86 ± 2.05 for the SSSS_7,2,0 , SRSR_7,2,0 , SSSSSS_2,0 , STSTST_2,0 , and SRx6₀ strategies, respectively. In conclusion, the distributed strategies produced significantly better recall than the massed strategies, the retrieval-based strategies produced significantly better recall than the studying strategies, and the combination of distributed and retrieval practice generated the greatest recall of anatomy information. Anat Sci Educ 10: 339-347. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.

Spacing Repetitions Over Long Timescales: A Review and a Reconsolidation Explanation

Recent accounts of the spacing effect have proposed molecular explanations that explain spacing over short, but not long timescales. In the first half of this paper, we review research on the spacing effect that has employed spaces of 24 h or more across skill-related tasks, language-related tasks and generalization for adults and children. Throughout this review, we distinguish between learning and retention by defining learning (or acquisition) as performance at the end of training and retention as performance after a delay period. Using this distinction, we find age- and task-related differences in the manifestation of the spacing effect over long timescales. In the second half of this paper, we discuss a reconsolidation account of the spacing effect. In particular, we review the evidence that suggests the spacing of repetitions influences the subsequent consolidation and reconsolidation processes; we explain how a reconsolidation account may explain the findings for learning; the inverted-U curve for retention; and compare the reconsolidation account with previous consolidation accounts of the spacing effect.

When Seeing Is Better than Doing: Preschoolers' Transfer of STEM Skills Using Touchscreen Games

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which character familiarity and game interactivity moderate preschoolers’ learning and transfer from digital games. The games were based on a popular television show and designed to test skills related to STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics): numerical cognition (quantity of different sets) and knowledge of a biological concept (growth). Preschoolers (3.0–5.5 years, N = 44) were assigned to play one game and watch a recording of an experimenter playing the other game. Learning was assessed during pre-test and post-test using screenshots from the game. Transfer was assessed using modified screenshots (near) and real-life objects (far). Familiarity was assessed by asking children to identify the television characters and program. Findings indicate that the effectiveness of the games varied by age and condition: younger children learned from the quantity game, but only when they watched (rather than played) the game. They did not transfer this information in either condition. Conversely, older children learned from the growth game regardless of whether they played or watched. However, older children only demonstrated far transfer if they watched (rather than played) the growth game. Thus, preschoolers may benefit more by watching a video than by playing a game if the game is cognitively demanding, perhaps because making decisions while playing the game increases cognitive load. Character familiarity did not predict learning, perhaps because there was little overlap between the lessons presented in the television program and game. Findings from the current study highlight the need for more research into educational games and applications designed for preschoolers in order to establish whether, how, and for whom screen media can be educationally valuable.

Realizing Relevance: The Influence of Domain-Specific Information on Generation of New Knowledge Through Integration in 4- to 8-Year-Old Children

In accumulating knowledge, direct modes of learning are complemented by productive processes, including self-generation based on integration of separate episodes. Effects of the number of potentially relevant episodes on integration were examined in 4- to 8-year-olds (N = 121; racially/ethnically heterogeneous sample, English speakers, from large metropolitan area). Information was presented along with unrelated or related episodes; the latter challenged children to identify the relevant subset of episodes for integration. In Experiment 1, 4- and 6-year-olds integrated in the unrelated context. Six-year-olds also succeeded in the related context in forced-choice testing. In Experiment 2, 8-year-olds succeeded in open-ended and forced-choice testing. Results illustrate a developmental progression in productive extension of knowledge due in part to age-related increases in identification of relevant information.

The right time to learn: mechanisms and optimization of spaced learning

For many types of learning, spaced training, which involves repeated long inter-trial intervals, leads to more robust memory formation than does massed training, which involves short or no intervals. Several cognitive theories have been proposed to explain this superiority, but only recently have data begun to delineate the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms of spaced training, and we review these theories and data here. Computational models of the implicated signalling cascades have predicted that spaced training with irregular inter-trial intervals can enhance learning. This strategy of using models to predict optimal spaced training protocols, combined with pharmacotherapy, suggests novel ways to rescue impaired synaptic plasticity and learning.

Spaced Repetition Promotes Efficient and Effective Learning

Concern that students in the United States are less proficient in mathematics, science, and reading than their peers in other countries has led some to question whether American students spend enough time in school. Instead of debating the amount of time that should be spent in school (and on schoolwork), this article addresses how the available instructional time might be optimally utilized via the scheduling of review or practice. Hundreds of studies in cognitive and educational psychology have demonstrated that spacing out repeated encounters with the material over time produces superior long-term learning, compared with repetitions that are massed together. Also, incorporating tests into spaced practice amplifies the benefits. Spaced review or practice enhances diverse forms of learning, including memory, problem solving, and generalization to new situations. Spaced practice is a feasible and cost-effective way to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of learning, and has tremendous potential to improve educational outcomes. The article also discusses barriers to adopting spaced practice, recent developments, and their possible implications.