Want Deeper Learning, Think About Interleaving.

 

Unfortunately, too many times, we have students learn one skill or concept at a time.  Due to the demands of the administration and others, we don't always have time to provide the time to practice the skills in such a way as to help them use them all.  What is better is to have students practice related ideas and concepts in various combinations.  This is referred to as interleaving.

When students practice the information via interleaving, they are more likely to store the topics and concepts more deeply, while asking them to figure out patterns, and form connections.

When students learn the material through interleaving, research indicates better retention, longer term skill development, and it promotes the ability to transfer learning to other contexts.  The transference is extremely important for students to move past the mindset that every problem is different and unique.  

In addition, students are forced to remember prior learning as they work through a mix of related concepts while selecting the proper strategy needed to solve each problem.  This method helps secure the learning in long term memory, improves problem solving skills, and improve mastery.  It does not replace the blocked practice where students practice lots of practice when first learning a skill.

When integrating interleaving into classroom instruction there are a few things that can be used to make it more effective.  First, when using interleaving, it is best to assign fewer problems because lots of the same type of problems are actually used when students learn the original skill such as when they learn addition, they will practice a ton of addition problems. When students have learned how to do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, then interleaving occurs when all four types of problems are assigned, the teacher might assign 20 problems instead of 30.  When students work mixed problems, they have to slow down, think about how to solve each problem, and make connections between the problems.  It is important to have fewer mixed problems to avoid mindless repetition.

Another way to integrate interleaving is by using rotating stations. This allows students to work through different related concepts in small groups with teacher lead instruction to scaffold as needed, online or collaborative activities. It is suggested that the first stations introduce students to related concepts at the introductory levels and later stations have students working more complex problems. For instance, if students are studying volume of three dimensional shapes, the first stations will have students explore the formulas for the simpler shapes. They would then move to the more complex formulas before applying the formulas to a mix of shapes.  They might have to calculate the volume of a cube, a cylinder, a different sized cube, a triangular prism, etc.  This helps students develop a longterm proficiency in this topic.

When you plan the next unit, think about incorporating activities which have students work with both the new and previous materials. This helps students understand connections of related ideas, refresh knowledge, and it extends their learning. Finally when wrapping up a unit, do not just move on.  Make sure to include a few problems from previous learning every day so as to regularly trigger previous learning.   This can be done in the warm-up or as an exit ticket.  

It is important to include mixed problems so students are encouraged to practice a type of productive struggle resulting in better learning.  Although students will make mistakes and will struggle, it will result in better pathways being created in the brain.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great week.