January 2009, Vol. 40, Issue 1
Research Commentary: The Effects of Spacing and Mixing Practice Problems
Doug Rohrer
Sets of mathematics problems are generally arranged in 1 of 2 ways. With blocked practice, all problems are drawn from the preceding lesson. With mixed review, students encounter a mixture of problems drawn from different lessons. Although mixed review is more demanding than blocked practice, the apparent benefits of mixed review suggest that this easily adopted strategy is underused.
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