Student Practice: Spaced vs Massed
Effective Teaching & Learning Practice | Instructional Practice
Student Practice:
Spaced VS
Review or practice new skills
with a time delay between trials.
(Distributed or Interleaving)
History
The spacing effect is one of the oldest findings in Experimental Psychology.
In the field of Psychology the spacing effect refers to the finding that
information, which is presented over spaced intervals is learned and
retained more easily and more effectively.
Ebbinghaus,1885
Research Results
If information is repeated in a distributed
fashion or spaced over time, it is learned
more slowly but is retained for much
longer.
Roediger III, H. L., & Pyc, M. A. ,2012
5th Grade Vocabulary
How to Use Spaced Practice
Like when previous
learning sessions
are reviewed
before class!
Repeat Information or skill
with irrelevant activity between.
OR
Interleaved practice by having
students study different
examples of a concept spaced
across time.
Vocab Recalled
Why Does Spaced Practice Matter?
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
20.8%
7.5%
0.0%
Spaced Massed
(Sobel, Cepeda & Kapler, 2011)
Students tested 5 weeks after
last review
How Effective is Spaced Practice?
Spaced Practice
(.71 effect size)
The contents of this presentation were developed under a grant from the US Department of
Education to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
(#H323A120018). However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the US
Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.