Figure 1. Blocking vs Interleaving Testing - image pulled from https://classteaching.wordpress.com/2014/06/12/spacing-and-interleaving/

In traditional blocking curriculum, which is one skill approached at a time, one topic follows another and so on. This leaves little opportunity to go back to past topics and review previous information.

Interleaving, which is the combination of two or more related subjects, can help students develop problem solving skills. It allows for retrieval of prior content and comparing it to the current content. Research shows that mixing topics from various lessons can help students develop a deeper conceptual understanding. It has shown the potential to help students retain mathematical concept understanding in the classroom (Sana & Yan, 2022). Furthermore, interleaving helps the brain learn to cross between concepts which is different from rote memory (Ferlazzo, 2021). Also, it shows that it deepens long-term memory skills (Ferlazzo, 2021).

How can this be used in the classroom?

Instead of focusing on only multiplication problems, interleaving would suggest using mixed operation problems. Rather than focusing on one branch of government at a time, students could compare and contrast two or more as they learn about the branches.

By connecting with different topics, brains are forced to recall information and then differentiate and discriminate that information (Ferlazzo, 2021). If our brains naturally work like this, shouldn’t we learn and teach like this?

References:

Ferlazzo, L. (2021, June 1). The what, why, and how of 'interleaving' (opinion). Education Week. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-the-what-why-how-of-interleaving/2021/05

Sana, F., & Yan, V. X. (2022). Interleaving retrieval practice promotes science learning. Psychological Science, 33(5), 782–788. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976211057507