ABSTRACT

The timing of what occurs in the classroom can affect how successfully new concepts are learned. This paper analyses two promising ways of modifying the schedule of tasks or examples – the spacing effect and interleaving. The spacing effect refers to improvements in long-term retention if practice sessions are separated by delays. Interleaving refers to the benefits of mixing different types of examples or problems within a series, such that contrasting items appear side by side or consecutively. These techniques are supported by a body of evidence which suggests that they can boost the durability and transferability of learning, and both are straightforward to implement given that they only require manipulating the schedule of learning experiences. However, research into metacognition suggests that classroom adoption of the techniques is likely to be undermined by persistent misconceptions about how learning and memory work, and that while teacher engagement with research evidence could help to promote the techniques, their use is context-specific. As discussed in the paper, this issue implies a need for focused and contextualised professional learning, which could be enhanced via the application of the same techniques to the professional learning activities carried out by new and in-service teachers.

抽象的

在课堂上发生的时间安排会影响成功学习新概念的方式。本文分析了修改任务或示例进度表的两种有前途的方法-间隔效应和交错。间隔效应是指如果练习课程被延误分开，则可以改善长期保留能力。交错是指将一系列不同类型的示例或问题混合在一起的好处，以使对比项并排或连续出现。这些技术得到大量证据的支持，这表明它们可以提高学习的持久性和可移植性，并且由于它们只需要操纵学习经历的时间表，因此两种方法都可以直接实现。然而，对元认知的研究表明，对学习和记忆如何运作的持续误解可能会破坏课堂上采用该技术的能力，并且尽管教师参与研究证据可以帮助促进这些技术，但它们的使用是针对特定环境的。正如本文所讨论的那样，这个问题意味着需要有针对性和情境化的专业学习，可以通过将相同的技术应用于新任和在职教师开展的专业学习活动而得到增强。