Secrets of Interleaved Practice | How Learning Works

Summary

The video script advocates for interleaved practice as a superior method for learning compared to blocked practice. It explains that interleaved practice, which involves randomly mixing different types of problems, enhances long-term learning and helps distinguish between similar concepts. The script also warns against using interleaved practice for new topics and the pitfalls of task-switching, which can hinder learning. A study cited in the script demonstrated the effectiveness of interleaved practice, showing significantly higher test scores for students who used this method.

Takeaways

• 📚 Interleaved practice is a learning technique where different types of problems are mixed together in a single practice session, as opposed to blocked practice where problems are grouped by type.
• 🔄 Blocked practice involves focusing on one type of problem or skill at a time, which can lead to better short-term performance but may not be as effective for long-term retention.
• 🌈 Interleaved practice is likened to a 'rainbow' of problems, where the variety helps to enhance learning by requiring the learner to recall and apply different techniques in a spaced manner.
• 🧠 The logic behind block practice, which is to 'collect skills', does not align with how learning actually works, as it doesn't account for the forgetting that occurs when not revisiting a skill.
• 🕒 Interleaved practice spaces out learning, which helps in long-term retention by requiring the learner to recall and apply skills over time, thus reinforcing memory.
• 🔍 This method of practice also helps learners to focus on the fine details and differences between techniques, as they are exposed to a variety of problems in close proximity.
• 🏆 Interleaved practice is more effective for real-world application where the type of problem is not known in advance, similar to a baseball player facing a variety of pitches rather than the same type repeatedly.
• 📈 A study mentioned in the script showed that students who used interleaved practice scored significantly higher on a test compared to those who used blocked practice.
• 🚫 Interleaved practice should not be used when first introducing new topics, as some initial blocked practice helps in getting familiar with the basics.
• ❌ Be cautious not to confuse interleaved practice with multitasking, which involves switching between completely different activities and can be detrimental to learning.
• 📝 Incorporate interleaved practice into study sessions or classes to improve learning outcomes, but ensure it's done correctly to avoid the pitfalls of task-switching.

Q & A

What is the main concept discussed in the transcript?

The main concept discussed in the transcript is interleaved practice as a method to improve learning efficiency, in contrast to blocked practice.

What is blocked practice?

Blocked practice is a learning method where you focus on one type of problem or skill for a period of time before moving on to another, such as practicing only linear equations before moving on to quadratic equations.

What is interleaved practice?

Interleaved practice involves mixing different types of problems or skills during a single practice session, such as solving a linear equation, then a quadratic equation, and then an inequality in random order.

Why is interleaved practice considered more effective than blocked practice?

Interleaved practice is considered more effective because it spaces out learning and requires the learner to recall how to solve different types of problems, enhancing long-term retention and understanding of the material.

What are the two main advantages of interleaved practice mentioned in the transcript?

The two main advantages are that interleaved practice spaces out learning over time and helps learners focus on the fine details or differences between the techniques they are learning.

Why might blocked practice lead to forgetting how to solve certain problems?

Blocked practice can lead to forgetting because it does not require the learner to recall how to solve a problem after a long period of not encountering it, which is not conducive to long-term learning.

What is the analogy used in the transcript to describe the difference between blocked and interleaved practice?

The analogy used is that blocked practice is like a bunch of bricks, while interleaved practice is like a bunch of rainbows, indicating the variety and randomness of interleaved practice.

What is the real-world application of interleaved practice mentioned in the transcript?

The real-world application mentioned is baseball batting practice, where a player would benefit more from random pitches rather than practicing the same type of pitch repeatedly.

What is the study mentioned in the transcript that demonstrates the effectiveness of interleaved practice?

The study involved a group of students who were split into two groups, one using traditional blocked practice and the other using interleaved practice. The interleaved practice group scored significantly higher on a test.

What are the cautions mentioned in the transcript about using interleaved practice?

The cautions are that interleaved practice should not be used when first introducing new topics, and it should not be confused with multitasking, which involves switching between completely different activities and can be detrimental to learning.

How does the transcript differentiate interleaved practice from multitasking?

The transcript clarifies that interleaved practice is about mixing problem types within the same subject or skill set, whereas multitasking involves switching between entirely different activities, which incurs a mental cost and reduces focus.

Outlines

00:00

📚 The Power of Interleaved Practice in Learning

This paragraph introduces the concept of interleaved practice as a learning technique, contrasting it with the more traditional blocked practice. Blocked practice involves focusing on one type of problem or skill at a time, such as consecutively solving linear equations, quadratic equations, and inequalities. Interleaved practice, on the other hand, involves mixing these problems randomly during practice sessions, which helps in spacing out learning and focusing on the fine details that differentiate between similar problems. The paragraph also highlights the shortcomings of blocked practice, such as the tendency to forget how to solve certain problems due to insufficient spacing in learning. It emphasizes the benefits of interleaved practice for long-term learning and its ability to prepare learners for real-world scenarios where problems do not come in predictable blocks.

05:01

🚀 Applying Interleaved Practice in Real-Life Scenarios

The second paragraph delves into practical applications of interleaved practice, using the analogy of a baseball player's batting practice to illustrate the concept. It suggests that facing a variety of pitches, rather than the same type repeatedly, better prepares the player for actual games. The paragraph also touches on learning bird species, recommending mixed exposure to different species for better differentiation. A study is cited where students who used interleaved practice scored significantly higher on a test compared to those who used blocked practice. However, the paragraph also includes cautionary advice on when to use interleaved practice, recommending initial blocked practice when introducing new topics and warning against the confusion between interleaving and multitasking, which can be detrimental to learning due to the mental cost of task-switching.

Keywords

💡Interleaved Practice

Interleaved practice is a learning method where different types of tasks or problems are mixed and practiced in a random order, rather than grouping similar tasks together. This approach is central to the video's theme, as it is presented as a more effective way to enhance long-term learning and retention. For example, the script contrasts it with 'blocked practice', showing how interleaved practice requires students to recall and apply different techniques in various contexts, thus improving their ability to solve a range of problems.

💡Blocked Practice

Blocked practice refers to the traditional method of learning where similar tasks or problems are grouped together and practiced in blocks. The script uses this concept to illustrate the limitations of this approach, explaining that it can lead to better short-term performance but may not be as effective for long-term retention and application of skills. The video suggests that blocked practice can result in forgetting how to solve certain problems when they are not practiced in close succession.

💡Long-term Learning

Long-term learning is the process of acquiring knowledge and skills that can be retained and applied over extended periods. The video emphasizes the importance of long-term learning in contrast to the short-term gains of blocked practice. Interleaved practice is presented as a method that supports long-term learning by requiring learners to repeatedly access and apply their knowledge over time, as seen in the script's discussion of the benefits of spacing out learning.

💡Spacing Effect

The spacing effect is a learning principle that suggests that information is better retained when studied in spaced intervals rather than in a single, concentrated session. The script mentions this effect as one of the advantages of interleaved practice, where learners are required to recall information at different times, thus reinforcing the memory and understanding of the material.

💡Fine Details

Fine details refer to the subtle distinctions or specific characteristics that differentiate similar concepts or techniques. The video script highlights the importance of focusing on fine details through interleaved practice, as it allows learners to closely examine and understand the differences between various types of problems, such as linear equations, quadratic equations, and inequalities.

💡Skill Application

Skill application is the ability to use acquired knowledge and techniques to solve problems in various contexts. The video's main message is that interleaved practice helps learners to develop the skill of applying their knowledge flexibly, as opposed to merely collecting skills through blocked practice. It emphasizes that the goal is to be able to solve any problem with the techniques one has learned, as illustrated by the baseball batting practice analogy.

💡Task Switching

Task switching is the act of moving between different tasks or activities, which can lead to a decrease in efficiency and focus. The script warns against confusing interleaved practice with task switching, explaining that while interleaved practice involves mixing problem types within a subject, task switching involves moving between entirely different activities, which can be detrimental to learning.

💡Cognitive Load

Cognitive load refers to the amount of mental effort required to process information. The video script mentions that task switching imposes a mental cost due to the cognitive load of switching contexts, which can negatively impact learning. It contrasts this with interleaved practice, which, when done correctly, does not involve the same level of cognitive strain.

💡Real-world Application

Real-world application is the ability to use learned skills and knowledge in practical, everyday situations. The video script emphasizes the importance of learning for real-world application, suggesting that interleaved practice better prepares learners for the unpredictability of real-life problem-solving, as opposed to the structured approach of blocked practice.

💡Learning Efficiency

Learning efficiency refers to the effectiveness with which information is learned and retained. The video script discusses a study that demonstrates the increased learning efficiency of interleaved practice compared to blocked practice, showing that simply changing the order of problem-solving can lead to significantly better outcomes on tests.

💡Skill Focus

Skill focus is the idea of concentrating on developing the ability to solve problems using various techniques, rather than just mastering specific types of problems. The script points out that the ultimate skill is not to solve linear, quadratic, or inequality problems individually, but to be able to solve any problem with the techniques one has learned, which is better achieved through interleaved practice.

Highlights

Interleaved practice accelerates learning by mixing different types of problems during practice sessions.

Blocked practice focuses on one type of problem at a time, which can lead to forgetting how to solve other types of problems.

Interleaved practice spaces out learning, requiring students to recall how to solve different problems over time.

Interleaved practice helps in focusing on the fine details and differences between techniques being learned.

The skill in interleaved practice is the ability to solve any problem with the techniques learned, not just a specific type of problem.

In real-world scenarios, problems do not come in blocks; interleaved practice better prepares for diverse situations.

A baseball analogy illustrates the effectiveness of interleaved practice in preparing for varied and unpredictable scenarios.

Interleaved practice is more effective in distinguishing fine details between different subjects, like bird species.

A study showed that students using interleaved practice scored significantly higher on tests compared to blocked practice.

Interleaved practice should not be used when first introducing new topics; some initial blocked practice is beneficial.

Interleaved practice is not the same as multitasking; it involves mixing problem types within the same subject area.

Task switching has a mental cost and is detrimental to learning, unlike interleaved practice within a single domain.

Interleaved practice should be incorporated thoughtfully into study sessions to enhance learning outcomes.

The transcript emphasizes the importance of understanding the logic behind different learning practices and their impacts on long-term retention.

The transcript provides practical advice on how to apply interleaved practice effectively in educational settings.

The transcript concludes with an encouragement to use the insights gained from the discussion to improve one's learning strategies.

Transcripts

a lot of times there are very simple

things that we can do

to accelerate our learning interleaved

practice is one of those things

the idea behind interleaved practice is

very

simple and to explain it i want to start

with

the kind of opposite kind of practice

which is blocked practice

imagine you're learning some algebra

techniques

and you might be learning about linear

equations and quadratic equations

and inequalities and

uh on your homework assignments maybe

the first

day or first few days you you practice

your linear solving linear equations and

then

you know the next week or something you

practice solving quadratic equations and

then the next week after that

you practice solving inequalities so

this

uh style of practice is called

blocked practice so you kind of you know

the kinds of problems that you're

solving and you kind of do them

in these big blocks now interleave

practice

would just be to randomize whatever

kinds of problems you're working on

during during your practice time so

you might be tackling an inequality

problem and then you might be tackling a

linear equation

and then maybe a quadratic equation you

you just don't know what's

coming next if blocked practice

looks like a bunch of bricks interleaved

practice is kind of like

i don't know like a bunch of rainbows or

something

and so to understand why rainbows are

better than bricks

we have to understand a little bit of

uh kind of the logic behind block

practice and why that logic doesn't

really hold up the logic behind block

practice

is almost like you are collecting skills

so it's like okay i work on linear

equations for a while i'm gonna put that

in my belt

i work on quadratic equation okay i got

that down

and i work on uh inequalities and now

you know i've collected all these three

skills you know

i've leveled up in my rpg thing

uh now i'm now i'm kind of a better

person yay for me

but uh that logic is not

it doesn't really represent how learning

works and

the first problem with this logic is

that it doesn't pay attention to

long-term

learning uh what happens when you use

block practice is that

uh you start to kind of

forget how to solve certain problems

you're not

because you're not spacing out your

learning sufficiently what's happening

is you never have to

really think about how to solve a

problem again and remember

how to solve it so uh what interleaved

the first advantage that interleaved

practice has over blocked practice

is that it spaces out your learning

on the same kind of technique or the

same the same topic

so uh if you're working on linear

equations

under an interleaved system you

are say doing uh doing a

linear equation here and then doing a

linear equation a little bit later and

then doing a little

linear equation a little bit later and

each time that you do that

you have to think about oh wait okay oh

wait what is this this is a linear

equation

oh okay now okay how do i solve that

okay now i

i kind of pull the information and pull

the techniques

out of my head to figure out how to

solve it

but the second advantage that

interleaved practice has

is that uh it helps you

focus on fine details or on differences

between the techniques that you're

learning so with blocked practice

you you never see say

a linear equation and a quadratic

equation and an inequality

right next to each other but with

inter-lead practice these come

in close proximity which means that you

can pay

closer attention to kind of the

differences

between them the broader the broader

point here

is that interleaved practice

focuses on the right skill

so with block practice you think the

skills are linear equations quadratic

equations and equalities

but that's not the skill that's not the

skill you care about

the skill that you care about is being

able to solve

any problem with the techniques that you

have

and so you don't necessarily know what

problem

is going to come next kind of in the

real world even though i know we're

talking about

kind of algebra in this kind of abstract

form

but you really want to be focused on how

are you going to use this information in

practice and

you're not going to use it like in the

blocked practice scenario

no one's going to tell you like hey i've

got three linear equations coming down

the pipeline like here you go

okay time for a test you are a baseball

player

and you're you are going to batting

practice do you want

to hit 20 fastballs 20 curveballs

and then 20 sliders or do you want to

have the pitcher just throw

whatever it is they feel like at you yes

you want to have the pitcher throw

whatever it is they feel like at you

even though you're probably gonna hit

worse the

skill that you're actually practicing is

much closer to the skill

that you will actually be using

in in a real baseball game second

question on this test

say you are learning bird species do you

want to look

at 10 photos of

wrens and 10 photos of sparrows

and 10 photos of some other generic bird

species that i don't know

or do you want to mix these

uh up the answer of course is that you

you want to

kind of use interleaved practice here

because you're interested

in kind of parsing out the fine details

of

the differences between these birds or

at least how these birds look

to illustrate how effective interleaved

practice can be

there is a great little math study where

the researchers took a group of students

and they split them into two groups

and one group kind of did the problems

as usual

as traditional as kind of laid out in

their textbook as the teachers usually

gave them to students

the other students got uh the same exact

problems

but just in a different order they all

took the same test at the end

the group of students who used the

traditional block practice

got something like a 43 or something on

this test

the group of students that used

interleaved practice got something like

a 72

or something on average on this test um

it just goes to show you kind of the

power

of inter-leap practice when all you've

done

is just change the order in which

you solve these problems but before you

go

crazy using interleaved practice

everywhere there are a couple of things

to keep

in mind one thing is you don't want to

start off

using interleave practice when you're

just introducing new topics to students

um or you're just learning a new topic

yourself you you want to kind of get

familiar with that topic a little bit

so a little bit of blocked practice in

the beginning is generally thought to be

more effective but relatively quickly

you want to be moving on to

a more challenging kind of practice and

the other thing with interleaved

practice that people

tend to get confused about is that

they think that mixing up problem types

or mixing up bird species together here

is effective then you should kind of

take it to the next level and mix

up activities all together so i'm going

to

study spanish for 10 minutes and then

i'm going to work on math homework for

10 minutes

and then i'm going to do some

programming for 10 minutes

this kind of approach that's not

interleaving that's just task switching

and task switching is actually very bad

for learning

because what happens is you have this

mental cost

every time you switch tasks and you're

not able

to really focus on what you're doing no

one gets better at say

texting and driving when they text and

drive they get worse

at driving and they get worse at texting

so interleave practice

is not multitasking don't don't do

multitasking

but you should think about how you can

incorporate interleaved practice

into your study sessions or into your

class

that's it i've gone on too long again if

this was helpful or interesting or

valuable to you in some way

please click the like button and good

luck on all your

all your practicing