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Asked by bcobbold to Lucy, Kathrin, Joni, Joe, Iroise, Ian, Emma, Duncan on 22 Apr 2015.
Question: During spaced learning to improve LTM how have the 2 input sessions been structured within the below article? Is the evidence based on repeating the same input, is it altered slightly or is it entirely different input?(http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00589/full)
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Iroise Dumontheil answered on 22 Apr 2015:
The way I understand it is that within a class, there were three repeats of the same content (over 20min or less each), separated by two distractor activities of 10 min.
“Repeating the same content three times in the same session, albeit with minor changes, was highly unusual but manageable. ”
The study with the different conditions and Biology/Physics course seems less clear. In condition 1 they seem to be talking about two different Biology courses, in Condition 2 students did the first Biology course as normal and the second one with spaced learning, in Condition 3, students again did the first Biology course as normal and then the single Spaced Learning session on I think the second Biology course.
Sorry if this didn’t help to clarify anything… You could try contacting the authors.
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Joseph Devlin answered on 22 Apr 2015:
If I understand correctly, Kelly tries to change the input slightly in his repetitions although the basic content remains the same. So he may present the material in three different ways, but if you got it the first time you won’t necessarily gain additional knowledge from the repeats.
Comments
Lia - WellcomeTrust commented on :
You may be interested in the downloadable resources about spaced learning found on this website http://www.innovationunit.org/knowledge/free-resources/publications?page=4
However as you may know the Wellcome Trust and Education Endowment Foundation has funded a trial looking into spaced learning. Part of the reason we felt it important to test was due to the research evidence developing, but also because we knew of the interest in this method from schools. I have been in meetings with psychologists + neuroscientists who have been looking at the research on this… and there seems to be a certain amount of disagreement on the optimum length of the gaps, and what to do during the gaps. These are some of the things we hope to learn through our trial https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/projects/spaced-learning/
Lia - WellcomeTrust commented on :
Also… this method is very much focused on the recall of key terms and definitions rather than deeper understanding, but if it is effective at ensuring students quickly pick up the key ideas and get a sense of the bigger picture – then it allows more lesson time for deeper engagement with the material, practicals, and application of the knowledge.
Steven Rose commented on :
The Kelly and Whatson spaced learning paper reports that students taught this way do no worse than conventional teaching on test some weeks later, but as Lia comments the test is of relatively straightforward recall of facts or definitions, not of deeper contextual understanding. The choice of spacing is somewhat arbitrary so there is no evidence as yet as to how minor changes in procedure may affect the results – if at all. Repeating something three times may be the only thing which is important
drpaulkelley commented on :
I think the article as published does not go into the details, though it say the two GCSE tests were the actual GCSE examinations, and that the two modules were the only form of assessment (p.4) ‘ convering ‘ all the curriculum test requirements’; p. 5 ‘covered the whole course’ . It is English education jargon. It could have been clearer in retrospect. So, not just facts / terms and definitions (well, unless that is all you needed to pass the GCSE). Equally the subjects were taking the (final) GCSE examinations. All the best, Paul