Week 4: Interleaved Practice

This week was all about learning how to implement rich tasks for mathematics. First, we discussed interleaved vs blocked practice. Blocked practice/study (or block learning) is an accustomed practice. This is where concepts or skills are introduced and taught explicitly until they become mastered, once mastered, the next concept or skill is taught. In interleaved learning, new material is taught while at the same time reviewing past material, this style proves that students hold on to information for a longer period of time. The diagram below shows the differences between the two methods:

Chamberlain, 2016. [Information from lecture]

In blocked study concepts are taught in blocks, as shown as above, and not reviewed through out, but are completed when mastered. In interleaved learning concepts are shown to be revisited. For example, a teacher would spend quite some time with Concept A, since that is where fundamental skills would be developed. The teacher would transition to Concept B, but continue with Concept B while equally reviewing Concept A. Afterwards, Concept C would be introduced, and at the end of the unit the teacher would spend a little amount of time with Concept A, some time with Concept B, and most time with Concept C. This type of balance between concepts allows for students to see the relevance of concepts throughout the unit. It also allows students to go back and review skills that they have already mastered and put them to new usage as they engage in further tasks. As stated in the Concepts video in this weeks forum, all math concepts are connected to each other, and the curriculum scaffolds information in a way that builds a basis for the next subject to be taught. Seeing how concepts are connected builds a new respect for each respective concept. It makes the concepts more relevant and more applicable, knowing that they will be needed to build towards another.

Dr. Doug Rohrer in his video The Benefits of Interleaved Practice provides a relevant analogy between blocked practice and interleaved practice. He compares the two to a baseball study, where batters were given types of pitches in blocks of 15, in this the batters knew what to expect when at bat because of the repetition. In interleaved practice, batters were given different pitches mixed up, not knowing what was coming next. Later they took a test, which was like an actual baseball game where the batters did not know what to expect, and the batters that received interleaved practice did far better than those who received blocked practice. Interleaved practice gives opportunity to do exactly what would need to be done during a test.

Another benefit of interleaved practice is that it provides further support for students to develop reasoning. Since skills are introduced and revisited, interleaved practice allows for relevance of older concepts to be used in new problems. It is a way of making concepts applicable to one another and students can make decisions and justify problem solving pathways by seeing relevance of the fundamental skills taught at the beginning of the unit.

Resources:
Flick, Michael Harry. Learn Better: Interleaved vs Blocked Learning. September 4, 2013. URL: http://www.personal.psu.edu/afr3/blogs/siowfa13/2013/09/learn-better-interleaved-vs-blocked-learning.html

Lasting Learning. The Benefits of Interleaved Practice, Dr. Doug Rohrer. December 31, 2015. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=88&v=4wJEB0cEUok

Lesson 4f. June 12, 2014. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8hzzv4a_8Y&feature=youtu.be