Alternating example-practice pairs produce faster and more accurate near-transfer solutions than blocked presentation of examples followed by practice¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · reviewr3·q2
Currency · newest study 2000 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i? Participants studying six interleaved example-practice pairs took less time and produced more accurate solutions on near-transfer posttest problems than participants receiving all examples then all practice problems. → Atkinson 2000
Evidence¶
Atkinson 2000¶
Atkinson, R. K., Derry, S. J., Renkl, A., & Wortham, D. (2000). Learning from Examples: Instructional Principles from the Worked Examples Research. Review of Educational Research, 70(2), 181-214. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543070002181
q2 · i? · review · r3
The review reports, citing Trafton and Reiser, an experiment using a LISP programming curriculum comparing alternating versus blocked sequencing of six example-practice pairs, with time to solution and accuracy on three near-transfer problems as measures.
"participants in the alternating-example condition took less time and produced more accurate solutions on the transfer posttest than their counterparts in the blocked-example condition."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
-
Example-based sequences outperform problem-only practice for novices, and fading support is argued to aid transfer — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
-
Example-first conditions outperformed problem-first conditions on an immediate circuit test — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
- Interleaving category examples improves inductive category learning for visual and mathematical materials, but not for expository texts or word categories — a broader claim this one bears on
- Interleaved practice produces higher mathematics test scores than blocked practice in a classroom experiment — related
- Categorization accuracy was significantly higher for infrequently alternated categories than for frequently alternated categories — reports the opposite
- Students become faster and more accurate in equation rearrangement over a short practice session even without feedback — related
- Interleaved practice improves delayed posttest performance compared with blocked practice — related
- The interleaving benefit is not caused by spacing, and the benefit extends to delayed tests — related
- Interleaved practice yields lasting learning effects at delayed posttests in spelling and second-language grammar — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
alternating-example-problem-pairs |
title |
Alternating example-practice pairs produce faster and more accurate near-transfer solutions than blocked presentation of examples followed by practice |
description |
Alternating example-practice pairs produce faster and more accurate near-transfer solutions than blocked presentation of examples followed by practice |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
weak |
newest_evidence |
2000 |
source_checked |
2026-10-20 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-13 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — atkinson-2000 |
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