In an experimenter-controlled task, interleaved practice yields better classification performance than blocked practice (d = 1.05)¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r3 · q3 · i3 large
Currency · newest study 2024 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i3 During strategy implementation, interleaved practice (M = 6.56) produced better classification performance than blocked practice (M = 3.57), d = 1.05. → Erdem Onan 2024

Evidence¶

Erdem Onan 2024¶

Erdem Onan, Felicitas Biwer, Roman Abel, Wisnu Wiradhany & Anique de Bruin. (2024). Optimizing self-organized study orders: combining refutations and metacognitive prompts improves the use of interleaved practice. npj Science of Learning 9:33. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-024-00245-7

q3 · i3 · causal · r3

Within the intervention phase, all participants studied 12 artists' painting styles, six via blocked and six via interleaved practice (counterbalanced), then took a 24-trial classification test. The paired t-test replicated the interleaving effect with d = 1.05.

"A paired sample t-test revealed that interleaved practice ( M = 6.56, SD = 2.97) resulted in better classi fication performance than blocked practice (M = 3.57, SD = 2.40), t(90) = 10.00, p < 0.001, d = 1.05, replicating the well-established interleaving effect in learning painting styles."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Interleaved practice yields better category learning than blocked practice, and students who choose interleaved practice outperform those who choose blocked practice on novel materials — related
• 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
• When trivia questions space out exemplars, spacing and interleaving are subadditive: interleaving beats blocking only with contiguous presentation, and spacing helps blocked but not interleaved study — related
• Interleaving Improves Discrimination — related
• Interleaving benefits transfer to novel items from a learned category, with effect sizes of up to 0.66 — related
• A refutation-plus-metacognitive-prompt intervention significantly increases students' use of interleaved practice in self-organized study tasks, including after a delay — related
• In self-organized tasks, more interleaved practice is associated with higher classification accuracy — related
• Interleaving multiple graphical representations of fractions gave a qualified advantage over blocked practice, mainly on delayed conceptual transfer and for low-prior-knowledge students — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• In SimStudent simulations across three math and science domains, interleaved-order curricula yielded as effective or more effective learning than blocked-order curricula — related