Interleaving during concept learning benefits memory of studied items, with effect sizes (Hedges' g) of up to 0.65¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r? · q3 · i2 medium
Currency · newest study 2021 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i2 Across the meta-analysis of 17 studies (32 datasets), interleaved presentation of concept examples improved classification of previously studied items relative to blocking. → Jonathan Firth 2021

Evidence¶

Jonathan Firth 2021¶

Jonathan Firth, Ian Rivers and James Boyle. (2021). A systematic review of interleaving as a concept learning strategy. Review of Education. https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3266

q3 · i2 · quant-synthesis · r?

Meta-analysis of a subset of 17 studies (32 constituent datasets) from the 26-study systematic review, restricted to experiments with a clear interleaved-versus-blocked comparison during initial learning. The review reports an interleaving benefit for memory with "effect sizes (Hedges' g) of up to 0.65".

"Memory (as tested by presenting studied items from a learned category) showed an interleaving benefit with effect sizes (Hedges' g) of up to 0.65"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Interleaving benefits transfer to novel items from a learned category, with effect sizes of up to 0.66 — related
• A meta-analysis of 20 studies found a large effect (Hedges' g = 0.871) for CTA use in training design — 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
• Interleaving Improves Discrimination — related
• Interleaving is most useful when differences between items are subtle; blocking can be preferable when category members are diverse — related
• Several candidate moderators show no reliable effects: retention interval, test type, presentation mode, and publication status — related
• Retrieval practice and spaced retrieval improve achievement and retention by medium amounts, while interleaving helps category learning only for some materials and blocking beats it for words — related
• Learners overwhelmingly judge blocking more effective than interleaving even when their test performance favors interleaving — related
• Interleaving—presenting different concepts in alternation rather than repeating the same concept—improves students' discrimination among similar concepts, terms, and principles — related