Spaced learning

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Spaced learning is a method based on three repetitions of learning content separated by two 10 minute spaces. It is based on the neuroscientific discoveries of the mechanisms for creating long term memories[1] (Fields: 2005) as reported in Scientific American. These discoveries were subsequently taken up by Paul Kelley, principal of Monkseaton High School, who developed a research programme to determine if such an approach could be replicated in formal education[2].

Rather unhelpfully, neither publication used the phrase 'spaced learning'. When the initial research findings were published, media seized upon the condensed learning content as the key element in the approach used at Kelley's school and the BBC national television news, The Sunday Times, The Independent, and The Economist[3] reported the approach largely in those terms ('8 minute lessons'). This emphasis was misplaced, since spaced learning depends on the the length and number of the spaces, not the content presentation (which can vary). However, this misunderstanding was also included reports in the educational press, notably The Times Educational Supplement[4]. The description of the approach as 'spaced learning', clarifying the importance of the spaces, only appeared later (see Monkseaton's website).

The use of the term 'spaced' reflects the distinction in other research between 'spaced training' and 'massed training' where there have been conflicting results reported. Spaced training is repeated training experiences separated by spaces (timed gaps often), massed training is a continuous block of training. It may be that Fields' discoveries resolve these issues by specifying the number of spaces and the length of the spaces based on the fundamental celluar processes.

The significance of spaced learning may prove important in different ways:

  1. as a demonstration that neuroscience is now producing outcomes that can be directly implemented in education- as asserted by Kelley[5]
  2. as a demonstration that conventional patterns of learning in formal education are fundamentally flawed
  3. as a demonstration that primary neuroscientific research has major implications for society

or, alternatively, that scientific discoveries that appear promising solutions in learning are not, in the end, as effective as they seem. The initial results for spaced learning are promising, but the approach needs testing in many different contexts before being accepted as an important contribution to learning theory.

[edit] References

  1. ^ R.Douglas Fields, Making Memories Stick, Scientific American, February, 2005, 58-63
  2. ^ Paul Kelley, Making Minds: What's wrong with education- and what should we do about it?, Routledge, London / New York, isbn = 0-415-41411-3
  3. ^ The Sunday Times, 15 July 2007;The Independent, 15 September 2007; and The Economist, 2 June 2007
  4. ^ The Times Educational Supplement, 29 June 2007
  5. ^ Paul Kelley, Making Minds: What's wrong with education- and what should we do about it?, Routledge, London / New York,150-4