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.

Interleaving and Math

  Interleaving is making the rounds in the education community because it is so different from most of our teaching and the results indicate it helps students really learn the material even in math.

The idea behind this is simple.  Instead of focusing on one skill such as learning piano scales, you mix the skills such as scales, chords, and arpeggios. 

According to Scientific American, the advantages of interleaving include last effects, may be one of the most effective teaching methods for math,  and strengthens memory associations.

By interleaving topics, the brain is constantly retrieving different responses to use in short term memory.  Since each problem is different, the brain is creating connections between the different problems and the correct answers, it enhances learning.  The drawback with this technique is that at first it seems the learning is slow and difficult at first, it produces longer lasting results.

It is suggested the types of problems be mixed up especially on homework to start the process. Although implementing it requires careful planning, it does not require extra training, special equipment or extra time which makes it fairly easy to use.

According to several articles I've read, the interleaving is best applied to independent practice problems and to homework because that is where it has the most effect.  In addition, you might try to group problems according to related topics so there is a relationship.  I do not mean have all the same type of problems but perhaps a ratio word problem with another for finding the slope of a line.

We often complain that students have difficulty in transferring their knowledge from one topic to another but this may help that issue since students are working more than one type of problem. The problems are mixed, requiring them to transfer knowledge.

According to Mind Shift At KQED, the question on home work is not about the quantity of problems but the quality of the problems included.  They recommend mixing up the problems rather than grouping them by type so they don't know what the next one is going to be.  This requires their brains to work harder finding the solution because they don't know what is coming next.

Various studies are showing that students who use this interleaving technique to help study the material end up having higher test scores than students who only work the problems grouped with the same type.

So think about this for the upcoming school year.  When you assign homework, do not do the page 27 every 3rd problem.  Select several from different pages and put them all mixed up on the homework page so students are given a more effective practice.  This is what I plan to do next week, when I start assigning homework.

Let me know your thoughts.  Keep an eye out because I plan to investigate other topics such as spaced practice, etc to see how I can use them in Math.