Modeling the solution to a problem and then having students practice independently is a common practice. But with only a few tweaks to their planning, teachers could take advantage of the powerful learning effects of “interleaved” practice sets. Interleaved practice sets either alternate solved problems with problems left for student solution, or alternate problems of different types. This video focuses on the use of interleaving in mathematics, where it is especially useful, but the strategy can be applied to any subject.
Our thanks to the teacher who posts as anabanana 120795 for her video Interleaving Practice.
Pointers:
- The most important rationale for the practice recommended in this video is described at the onset: eliminating understandable teacher frustration when students forget what they earlier appeared to have learned.
- An important warning: when teachers first mix problems in practice sets rather than very similar problems, students may struggle more. But persistence will pay off in student learning.
- For more on this strategy, see the Institute of Education Science’s Practice Guide Organizing Instruction and Study to Improve Study Learning (link: https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/1) and the Deans for Impact’s The Science of Learning (link: https://deansforimpact.org/resources/the-science-of-learning)