Exploring Spaced Practice
Spacing out study sessions over multiple days, even weeks, and spacing out questions within a study session develops long-term memory, therefore, durable learning. Cramming for the same or longer overall amount of time creates surface level memory and understanding that diminishes quickly after immediate recall. Each time information is accessed and interacted with, new connections are made, and depth of meaning, relevance and understanding increases. Spaced practice allows for information to be engaged with repeatedly, over a period of time, resulting in deep, durable learning.
Learning Outcomes
After completing this module, you will be able to:
- Explain the principle of spaced practice
- Describe how spaced practice improves learning
- Identify the barriers to using spaced practice
- Demonstrate how to use interactive learning tools to support spaced practice
Understanding Spaced Practice
Spaced practice is best explained as a comparison to cramming, a test preparation habit students frequently engage in: intense studying over a short period of time before a test or exam. Rather than squeezing studying in over one or two days, or a few hours, before a test, spaced practice involves spreading study sessions out over several days or weeks. This allows studying to be interspersed with sleep. Sleep allows information to be consolidated and transferred from short-term to long-term memory. There is something to be said for the expression “sleep on it”.
The spaced distribution of studying inevitably results in some information being forgotten between study sessions. As a result, students are challenged more when trying to recall information during spaced study sessions than they are when they are cramming. When students cram, information is stored in short-term memory, which is only temporary. Here it is easily accessed over a brief period, like during a test the next day, but it is then forgotten within days, hours or even minutes after completing the assessment. With spaced practice, information is transferred to and stored in long-term memory, making it more challenging to recall initially but resulting in more durable learning over time. Spacing out study sessions allows students to see what information they have truly learned and what has yet to be transferred into long-term memory.
Click here for an accessible version of the above image: Spaced Practice vs Cramming.pdf
Spaced Practice - Video
The following two minute video is an introduction to spaced practice. It explores what interleaving is and how it can support students in their learning. Feel free to include this short video into your own courses to guide students as they explore effective learning techniques. You can find this video at the following link: Tactic 1: Spaced Practice Video
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Spaced Practice - Video Transcript |
INTRODUCTION SCREEN [Music] – Spaced Practice Student 1 [dejected]: Aw man, my Professor just announced that we have a test in a few weeks. I don’t like tests, I never do well on them. Student 2: The test isn’t for a few weeks, we have loads of time to prepare. Want me to help you build a study schedule? Student 1: Nah. When I study this early, I forget stuff by the time the test rolls around. I do a lot better when I study the night before the test. Student 2 [laughing]: That’s not studying, that’s cramming. And I bet that you forget most of what you studied after the test, right? Student 1: Yeah, but it gets me through the test … Student 1 [frowning]: … sometimes. Student 2 [concerned]: It sounds like cramming doesn’t always work either. Student 1: I guess, but I don’t have time to study for all my courses for hours every night. Student 2: You don’t have to study for hours every night, and you don’t have to study every course every night. It’s actually better if you don’t. Student 1: What do you mean? Student 2: You can remember more information if you space out your study sessions so that you don’t study the same information every day. I split my courses into three groups, with a mix of easy and hard courses in each group. Then, I only study the courses from a specific group each day. That way, I’m not spending hours trying to study all of my courses every night, and I’m also giving myself a break from each subject for a couple of days. But I’m still studying something every day, which helps me get into a routine with studying. Student 1: Don't you forget stuff when you take those breaks? Student 2: Yes, but that’s okay! It’s actually really important! You want to forget some information a little bit, so you have to work harder to try and remember the information and relearn it a little bit. Then when I look at the material again to relearn it, it’s easier than it was the last time and I remember it better. Eventually, I know the information really well and because took time to learn it and not try to just cram it into my head, I remember the information for a long time. I’m not just trying to pass the test, I want to remember what I’ve learned when I need it in other classes or on the job someday. Student 1: That’s smart. Student 1: Okay, let’s make a spaced out schedule so we can study for this test properly. Narrator: Space out your study sessions over several days or even weeks to learn your content more deeply. Spaced practice will help you to remember information for longer periods, resulting in more durable learning. END SCREEN [Music] – This project was made possible with funding by the Government of Ontario and through eCampusOntario’s support of the Virtual Learning Strategy. Created by Durham College. |
The following are some interesting and creative ways to use this video:
- Present it in class and model to your students how they can use spaced practice with your course content
- Develop a sample study schedule that uses spaced practice and discuss how learning is enhanced through spacing
- Embed it in a review quiz
Spaced Practice - Infographic
Spaced Practice Infographic.pdf
Attribution- Creative Commons-NonCommercial-NoDerivs by The Learning Scientists
Barriers to Spaced Practice
Within this section we explore some roadblocks that can prevent students from engaging in this particularly learning technique. These can be used in a number of ways:
- establish a reflective checklist for students to assist them in assessing their previous habits and methods of studying
- support discussions about progress and next steps with students
- as a means of feedback to support students while they build their competency with learning
Resistance to Using Spaced Practice
- Habit or past practice. Many students have progressed through their education, starting in high school, by engaging in just-in-time studying. This has created a sense of familiarity and comfort. Changing learning and studying practices can be worrisome and uncomfortable until they are supported by positive evidence that they work for the student.
- Cramming feels easier than spaced practice. When students see the same information repeatedly during a study session, they begin to recognize it and think they have learned it. Spaced practice requires more effort, which can cause a student to feel like they aren’t learning the information as well as they do when cramming.
- Incorporating spaced practice into a course requires planning on the part of the professor and a redistribution of how they will use class time and resources.
- Students don’t understand how or know that spaced practice improves retention. When students are provided with homework or practice resources for a topic, they tend to complete the entire activity in one sitting. Providing students with homework or practice resources with fewer questions, over a spaced-out period of time, will require students to revisit the content repeatedly consequently demonstrating the positive impact of spaced practice.
Challenges Students May Face Using Spaced Practice
- Students will forget information when using spaced practice - initially. This can result in students feeling like they aren’t learning the information, negatively impacting their sense of accomplishment and engagement with the course. It is important for instructors to let students know that forgetting is normal and that their learning and understanding will be strengthened each time they relearn it during a study or practice session.
- Spaced practice requires students to plan ahead. Students who struggle with time management or executive functioning will find it difficult to create and stick to a study schedule. Offer students a suggested review schedule, particularly for times leading up to a high stakes assessment. Recommend that students work with their student/academic advisor, learning strategist, tutor or friend to develop a spaced student schedule that works for them.
References
Photography on this page used with permission from the Durham College Online Photo Database.
Carpenter, S.K., & Agarwal, P.K. (2020). How to use spaced retrieval practice to boost learning. RetrievalPractice.org. http://pdf.retrievalpractice.org/SpacingGuide.pdf
Dunlosky, J. (2013). Strengthening the Student Toolbox: Study Strategies to Boost Learning. American Educator, 37(3), 12–21. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1021069.pdf
Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K.A., Marsh, E.J., Nathan, M.J., & Willingham, D.T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612453266
Karpicke, J. D., & O'Day, G. M. (in press). Elements of effective learning. In M. J. Kahana & A. D. Wagner (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Human Memory, Volume II: Applications. Oxford University Press. https://learninglab.psych.purdue.edu/downloads/inpress_Karpicke_ODay_Oxford_Handbook.pdf
Rohrer, D., & Pashler, H. (2007). Increasing retention without increasing study time. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16(4), 183-186. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00500.x
The Learning Scientists. (n.d.). Spaced practice. The Learning Scientists. https://www.learningscientists.org/spaced-practice
Weinstein, Y., Madan, C.R. & Sumeracki, M.A. (2018). Teaching the science of learning. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-017-0087-y
Weinstein Y., & Smith, M. (2016, July 21). Learn how to study using... spaced practice. The Learning Scientists. https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2016/7/21-1