Preserving Knowledge with Spaced Practice

In preliminary academic years, it was instinctual to highlight new knowledge taught in schools. Important sentences highlighted are to help remember information for long-term. It is, now discovered, the most ineffective learning strategy and over-utilized one. A young learner's growth is inspired by the traditional old practices of learning, re-learning, or re-reading texts. Ironically, older generations have learned from the conventional learning practices but made little effort to reflect on their effectiveness. Make It Stick by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel is a wonderful guide for learners who are curious about the learning process and how to make learning more effective.?

Learners as Consumers and Producers?

Traditional pedagogy is based on the assertion that the best learning happens when the learner studies endlessly without gaps. The proposition is to produce maximum content in the examination. The system gives out the illusion of “consistent learners” which is flawed. It deflates from the essence of learning for self, growth, and excellence. Our motivation is defined by scores rather than by learning; hence we consume quick learning in abundance but do not effectively deliver learning. Why is that? The answer is clear but often goes unnoticed by the naked eye. Learning needs to be slow and repetitive but in spaced-out sessions, for it to be effective. The lessons are derived from the book Make it Stick and it further encourages readers to use their minds in keeping learning intact.?

The human brain is amusing in its own way, unlike animals, humans have the privilege of making sense of existence, have the linguistic power to communicate emotions, and ability to think deeply. We get roped into learning with limited motivation, some would learn so that they could survive in the fast-paced world. We all consume data every day but may only remember a part of it. Leaving the human brain underutilized. Make it Stick (Brown, P. C., Roediger, H. L. III, & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful learning) explores the details of best practices, proven scientifically and psychologically, to make learning effective. The results have spaced practice as one such effective tool to keep learning.?

Mug It Up- What a Waste of Time?

As explored in the experiment of a surgery study (Moulton CA, Dubrowski A, Macrae H, Graham B, Grober E, Reznick R. Teaching surgical skills: what kind of practice makes perfect? a randomized, controlled trial. Ann Surg. 2006 Sep) that goes on to prove that learning in spaced practice supplies opportunities for correction, consolidation, and reflection. As proved, the technique may be slow but triggers our underutilized brain to re-access the consumed information. The text even acknowledges that it is completely all right to make errors that are in a way difficult to accept for someone who is conditioned in the traditional learning spaces. For them, there is a need to unlearn and get comfortable with the idea that little forgetting is essential for retrieving and refueling information back to full. It is like learning a new skill, for example in an introductory contemporary ballet class, the student starts with learning the basics plier (to bend), etendre (to stretch), relever (to rise), sauter (to jump), tourner (to turn), glisser (to glide), and elancer (to dart) on Day 1. The following three practice schedule includes doing free flow or body movement’s choreography allows forgetting by this time. On the fourth practice day, they return to basics. The adopted method helps dancers to gradually know about their body movements and consolidate the basic learning techniques. Most dancers try to retrieve some of the basic steps into the choreography phase and then on Day 4 would brush up their skills and re-access the basic steps with the entire class.?

The Unfolding Nature of Spaced Practice?

What is interesting about learning is that it is ever-evolving and has untapped potential for knowledge growth. With learning being ever-evolving, so are its strategies, it goes back to a simple study conducted by the German philosopher Ebbinghaus (Kornmeier J, Sosic-Vasic Z. Parallels between spacing effects during behavioral and cellular learning. Front Hum Neurosci. 2012 Jul) who was the first in discovering the benefits of spaced practice. It has been further explored that spaced practice also occurs with multimodal stimulation i.e., auditory + visual (as cited Chris Janiszewski, Hayden Noel, Alan G. Sawyer, A Meta-analysis of the Spacing Effect in Verbal Learning: Implications for Research on Advertising Repetition and Consumer Memory, Journal of Consumer Research, Volume 30, Issue 1, June 2003, Pages 138–149). The continuous research of spaced practice techniques uncovers new outcomes and new potentials that confirm the strategy as a significant learning tool. However, there is a challenge that is more personal and on the receiving end of learners. For those conditioned with rote learning, we find it uneasy to suddenly change our learning strategies. Another question to be raised here is whether spacing itself is enough practice to retrieve information.?

Deepening Learning?

Learning through desirable difficulty compensates for the inconvenience by making learning stronger and more precise. It is no longer about burning skills into our memory but about building mental libraries. In fact, it is our motivation that pushes us to go beyond our comfort space. For anyone who wants to learn for self or for growth, they must accept that the science of successful learning lies in self-awareness and acknowledging the significance of trial and error. The idea of spaced practice is based on empirical research that confirms its effectiveness in any learning environment.?

With limited time and abundant information to learn, one can aspire to the spaced practice if they adopt the resting and learning combination. Memories can easily wither away with time and can become less accessible. So, trying to re-learn over a spaced-out interval helps solidify the information and allows for reconstructing the pathways. We may even perceive the content with a different approach the next time we re-learn. We may have the basic starting points but end up with varied contexts. Along with this the time taken off between learning allows imagination to flow, provides space for connecting with past experiences, and even allows confusion. This pushes us to allow critical sorting and thus we can better access and discriminate between problems. It is true that remembering information requires effort, but we can certainly master having longer retention and versatility by using this practice. It is also important to note that spaced practice along with interleaved practice and varied practice, self- quizzing/testing can help refine our memory.?

Conclusion?

As learners, it is time we redefine and re-analyze the phrase "practice makes a man perfect.” It is the imperfection that motivates us to think deeply about what needs to be done. As educators and learners, we must continue to remain curious and allow the space to make mistakes and grow from them. A student who prepares for an exam must avoid the illusion of experts and be motivated by learning for self and growth. As teachers, we must instill this conditioning to allow the strengthening of learning.?