Chapter Overview

Chapter Overview

This book will show you how to implement the evidence-based teaching techniques of spaced repetition, interleaving, and retrieval. In the following chapters, I explain what the techniques are, give an overview of the science behind them, and teach you how to implement them in your classroom. I’ve included occasional questions you can use to quiz yourself and provide a baseline of understanding on what you’re learning.

Chapter 1 provides an overview of the SIR techniques—what they are and why they are effective and efficient for long-term learning. I cover the basics of how the brain creates strong connections to store and retrieve memory. I discuss what spaced repetition, interleaving, and retrieval look like in practice. Finally, I examine benefits of using the techniques, such as automaticity and higher-order thinking.

In chapter 2, you’ll become familiar with spaced repetition. I explore how research uncovers five elements that make spaced repetition successful: (1) spaced conditions, (2) spaced sessions, (3) long intervals, (4) small segments, and (5) scheduled intervals. I show you how to implement spaced repetition with a learning target, in a lesson, in a unit, and over the course of multiple units, including tools to support you at each level of implementation.

Chapter 3 discusses interleaving, a technique more effective than blocking. I discuss how to implement interleaving in the classroom with various types of assessment and homework assignments.

In chapter 4, you’ll learn about retrieval, which is any time a student recalls information. Retrieval is much more effective than rereading and restudying, and it supports students’ higher-order thinking. I illustrate how to implement retrieval in the classroom using class discussion, bell ringers, exit slips, assessments, and questioning techniques.

While chapters 1 through 4 show how to implement the SIR techniques over time, chapter 5 offers a quick start guide with tips for immediate inclusion in the classroom. You can use the techniques right away by asking students daily what they remember, assessing students frequently, and implementing student-generated quizzing. The chapter ends with a case study of the SIR techniques in action.

Finally, the book concludes with an appendix addressing frequently asked questions about spaced repetition, interleaving, and retrieval.

CHAPTER 1

An Overview of the SIR Techniques

One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea. It . . . makes you think that after all, your favorite notions may be wrong, your firmest beliefs ill-founded. . . . Naturally, therefore, common men hate a new idea, and are disposed more or less to ill-treat the original man who brings it.

—Walter Bagehot

There’s a disconnect between research-based techniques for effective learning and techniques that education traditionally endorses. The techniques we as teachers rely on in the classroom frequently don’t align with those that scholars and scientists recommend. To improve, we must carefully look at some of our current practices and compare them to evidence-based research to determine if what we are currently doing benefits students the most. Without an understanding of practices based upon results—namely, evidence of learning—we are destined to continue to apply techniques that may be ineffective or, even worse, harmful to learning.

In this chapter, I provide foundational information about the SIR techniques. I explain the basics of the science behind the techniques, specifically how the brain creates strong connections that facilitate storing and retrieving memory. I show you what spaced repetition, interleaving, and retrieval look like in practice to provide context before studying each in more detail in the remaining chapters of the book. Finally, I discuss benefits of using the techniques, such as automaticity and higher-order thinking.