Day 22: Learning Technique 9: Spaced Repetition

Today we discuss our learning technique #9, spaced repetition, which is the process of testing material over progressively longer intervals in order to increase the effort of recall and thus embed knowledge further into long term memory. You will learn what this technique is, the science behind it, why you should use it, and finally how you can apply it to accelerate your learning.

Resources for this lesson:

• Transcripts
• Worksheet
• List of Scientific References
• Flashcards of Learning Techniques

Summary

What is Spaced Repetition?

Spaced repetition is the process of testing material over progressively longer intervals in order to increase the effort of recall and thus embed knowledge further into long term memory.

• This is the opposite of cramming, where you study for a long, intense period, and often close to the test that you need the material for.
• By spacing your learning, you take that same amount of study time and you spread it out over much longer periods.
• As a result, the same amount of study time will produce more long lasting learning.

Why it matters: say goodbye to cramming and then immediately forgetting what you've learned, and say hello to remembering what you've learned for the rest of your life.

What does the science say?

By testing students at progressively longer intervals, spaced repetition allows some forgetting to set in.

• This means the effort students have to apply to recall material in each testing session is significant, leading to deeper and more durable learning as research has shown [1].
• Interrupting the process of forgetting is the most effective way to cement knowledge in long-term memory.

These claims are supported by Herman Ebbinghaus' discovery of the forgetting curve [2] which showed that memory is subject to exponential loss, a sharp non-linear decline immediately after learning.

• His research showed that with repeated spaced repetition, memory of what he was learning became better and better.

The forgetting curve explains why cramming doesn't work, because if you study a subject only once you will begin rapidly forgetting the material.

• Cramming also takes more time to reach the same level of understanding you achieve in spaced repetition.
• Cramming often replaces sleep, which is very important for learning and also for your mental and physical health more generally.

Why should you use it?

Using spaced repetition, you will associate different contexts to the same material, providing more possible cues to help you recall that material in later situations. Meaning better and easier memory.

Remember the more cues or associative links that we have in our long-term memory, the easier it is to remember stuff and recall it later.

How do you use it?

The basic process is:

1. Plan days and times when you will study material. For example, create a daily habit of learning for 20 minutes a day.
2. Review information from each learning session, but not immediately after that learning session.
3. When you sit down to study, make sure you are using effective study strategies, retrieval practice or elaboration, rather than just re-reading your notes.
4. After you review information from the most recent learning session, make sure to go back and study important older information to keep it fresh.

A tool to help with spaced repetition is using a space repetition system, based on old system called a Leitner box.

• In this method, flashcards are sorted into groups according to how well the learner knows each one.
• The learners try to recall the solution written on a flashcard. If they succeed, they send the card to the next group. If they fail, they send it back to the first group.
• Each succeeding group has a longer period before the learner is required to revisit the cards.

In the digital age, people have created digital SRS's, like Anki, allowing you to create flashcards or download someone else's complete with audio, video, pictures, or texts.

• As you review those cards, you tell the software how difficult it was to answer that question and your reaction time, and the software predicts when you're likely to forget that card.
• The end result of this is whittling down the amount of review necessary to learn large amounts of information.

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Activity

Download the flashcards that we made of the learning techniques and set up a schedule for yourself to practice going over these flashcards.

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Skill Lesson Mastered

Demonstrate mastery of the knowledge and skills presented in this lesson by applying it to the above activity. If, and only if, you have a full understanding and have mastered the knowledge and skills presented in this lesson, select the next lesson in the navigation.