Unpacking Spaced Practice

UNPACKING SPACED PRACTICE

Regardless of the practice type, incorporate challenging rather than laborious tasks. Match the level of task difficulty with the students’ improving abilities and keep the task time relative to student progress. Prepare or search for novel practice tasks that build on prior knowledge and existing cognitive abilities. Be sure your practice plan addresses changes that need to be made to the learning environment and describes how you will help students make personal connections.

The plan to build the knowledge or skill base should include these practice strategies:

Spaced over time
Deliberate (addresses specified criteria for improvement)
Dynamic (challenging, novel, in varied contexts)
Interleaved (if applicable)

Spaced
Having practice sessions spaced over a span of time without too much lapse between sessions usually requires three or four exposures to the learning over several days (Nuthall, 2005). Spacing between practice sessions also depends on task complexity and challenge. Simple task practice needs relatively brief rest periods between practice sessions; complex or challenging tasks require longer rest periods between practice sessions (at least 24 hours or more) (Hattie, 2009).

Deliberate practice
For practice to be deliberate, a student must have a clear understanding of the goal and success criteria, know weaknesses or underdeveloped areas, and address the deficiencies in small sequential steps. For example, if the tennis goal is to hit the ball over the net 80% of the time, the student may check progress on the skills of racquet grip, swing, body position, and footwork. The goal is to increase “the rate of correct academic responses to practice opportunities until minimal levels of mastery (defined by success criteria) are met.”
Dynamic practice
Students who lack conceptual understanding rarely benefit from “kill em’ with drill” practice sessions. So, for practice to be successful, it should include contextual variability (one concept being practiced by different learning experiences or settings), some degree of challenge, and novel or unusual activities based on the same concept. To vary practice while still teaching the main idea, for example, an ELA teacher could use digital and print resources as well as various forms of fictional genre to practice, while a science teacher might use videos, demonstrations, and hands-on experiments.
Interleaving practice
Instead of repeatedly working on one skill or topic, interleaving practice involves working on multiple skills at the same time. In blocking, for example, students might lean “a” first, then “b,” and then “c.” They practice a single skill or topic over and over before moving onto another skill, and repeat the process. Teachers using interleaving practice, would teach “a, b, c” at the same time, and then go onto a new concept or skill.

Watch the video clip called The Benefits of Interleaving Practice by Robert Bjork (5.58 minutes) to gain greater understanding of the meaning of interleaving practice.