What is Spaced Practice in Education?

As the end of the school year approaches, we want to ensure our students retain the information they’ve learned throughout the year. But why is it that students remember things for a lifetime and forget some things as soon as they exit the classroom? That’s where long-term memory and recall come in, and specifically, Spaced Practice.

Is spaced practice effective?

A type of retrieval practice, Spaced Practice is crucial in pursuing lasting retention. At its core, Spaced Practice embodies the art of repetition over spaced intervals of time. This repeated engagement with material enhances the likelihood of retention in long-term memory, which offers a deeper understanding. Rather than cramming information into our brains in a single, frantic session, Spaced Practice encourages deliberate recall over spaced intervals. It is the educational equivalent of creating and cultivating a garden. By planting the seeds of knowledge and caring for them over time, the roots will flourish and grow.

Research suggests that students typically require three to four encounters with new content to process and store it in long-term memory effectively. Each retrieval session serves as a rehearsal that scaffolds future learning opportunities (Agarwal et al., 2020).

To harness the potential of Spaced Practice, educators must deliberately revisit material in regular review sessions with low-stakes assessments. They can use flashcards, quizzes, and practice tests for knowledge retention. By challenging students to recall information at spaced intervals, students will grasp the current material and obtain ongoing cognitive skills. 

John Hattie, a New Zealand education academic, ranked 138 learning strategies from highly positive to highly negative. He aimed to answer the question, “What strategies are most effective in education?” Hattie found that, on a scale of 0 to 1.0, the average impact size of all the interventions he examined was 0.40. Spaced Practice came in a robust 0.71, indicating it is much more effective than the average strategy (Hattie, 2008). 

Despite its proven efficacy, Spaced Practice often remains underutilized in educational settings. Educational culture usually requires covering vast amounts of material in limited timeframes. The value of deliberate, repeated learning can often be overlooked. 

How to Implement Spaced practice

So, what are the actual steps to Spaced Practice? Educators must use careful planning to map out regular intervals for study sessions. These short, frequent review sessions provide learners with ample opportunities to revisit and reinforce their understanding of key concepts (Main, 2022).

Let’s take a look at the steps and possible examples of Spaced Practice from a mid-level science class:

Step 1: Planning

Begin by mapping out regular intervals for study sessions. Determine when and how often the material will be visited.

Example: In this science class, students are studying the solar system. Dedicate 20 minutes every weekday to research and study about different planets. The class will focus on Mercury on Monday, Venus on Tuesday, Mars on Wednesday, and so on, leaving Friday to review the entire solar system. 

Step 2: Study and Review

Dive into the material for the first time. Engage with it through various learning strategies, such as reading, note-taking, group projects, etc. Then, review what you learned to summarize your initial understanding.

Example: On Monday, students will start by researching Mercury using books and reliable websites. Students will take notes that relate to the state standards and interesting facts. After research, they will organize this information on a poster, Google Slides, or Canva infographic.

Step 3: Recall

Challenge students to recall the material they learned after the first learning session. This step prompts students to actively retrieve the information and strengthen their memory of the material.

Example: On Wednesday, challenge students to recall what they learned about Mercury on Monday. Without looking at their notes, have them write down five facts about Mercury from memory. Then have them compare their notes taken from memory with their research.

Step 4: Continued Recall

This is where planning is essential. Maintain a schedule of recalling the material at spaced intervals. Continuously revisiting the content reinforces students’ understanding and commits it to their long-term memory. This step is where old information and new material are joined to create lasting connections.

Example: As the week progresses, students will continue to study and review information about each planet. On Friday, students will review all the planets covered so far to reinforce their understanding of the solar system. Students will also compare and share their notes, posters, Google Slides, or Canva infographics of what they have learned.

Integrating Spaced Practice into daily routines is vital for optimizing long-term retention and application of knowledge across academic and professional settings. By creating a schedule, using spaced repetition, and engaging in retrieval practice, students will reinforce their learning and enhance their cognitive abilities. Spaced Practice ensures students unlock the full potential of long-term memory, foster critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and succeed in navigating the complexities of the modern world.

References

• Agarwal, P. K., Roedinger, H. L., McDaniel, M. A., & McDermott, K. B. (2020). HOW TO USE RETRIEVAL PRACTICE TO IMPROVE LEARNING. Retrieval Practice. Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://pdf.retrievalpractice.org/RetrievalPracticeGuide.pdf
• Hattie, J. (2008). Visible learning. Routledge.
• Main, P (2022, January 05). Spaced Practice: A teacher’s guide. Retrieved from https://www.structural-learning.com/post/spaced-practice-a-teachers-guide