Interleaving Practice and Reflection

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Visiting material after time can lead to better long-term memory retention. 

So, let us think about what we do when we learn something. We can attend a culinary class. We can earn credits for a college course. We can take a CPR class and receive a certificate at the end, signifying that we have passed the course and that we are now equipped to take on certain responsibilities.

But are we really retaining this information? Are we prepared to take on the world with our new cheesemaking, life-saving, academic skills? The answer is not only in the issue of memory retention, but also the process in which we recall information in the first place.

Massed or blocked practice has been a traditional staple in education, and has been shown to be effective. When we cram information into our brains with whatever resources we can- acronyms, flashcards, hours of repetition- we are bound to remember something, right? Indeed. Yet, it turns out that interleaving practice, or taking breaks in between while learning the same material, can be even more effective in the long-term. 

One of my absolute favorite methods of reflection and data processing is Elaboration. My first experience with elaboration was in a challenging and time-consuming Sociology of Religion course. It was worth the experience. We had a long and linguistically chewy book to hammer through before the end of the semester. There was going to be a lot of reading. We were to summarize each fine print page into 1-2 paragraphs- but no more than 2 paragraphs! This was quite the feat- summing up hundreds of words and fruitful ideas into a meer couple of sentences...

 But this method of elaboration- it worked. I re-read until I understood what I was reading. I had to put it in my own words. I had to reflect, I had to think. 




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