It may seem difficult sometimes for students to remember new concepts, ideas or even formulas and rules, but a new approach known as spaced repetition could make this much easier.

Spaced repetition is a learning technique that involves reviewing material at increasing intervals to improve long-term retention rather than attempting to remember content all in one go. Using this method means that, for each revision of the same topic the ‘retention curve’ – aka the speed at which the student will forget the content – flattens. This ultimately means that as content is revised, it is retained for longer and longer.

Spaced repetition has also proven to be helpful through research! In a 2015 study, students attended a lecture. Half the students took an online quiz one day after the lecture, while the other half took the quiz eight days later. All of the students took a final test five weeks after their respective quizzes. Students who took the quiz eight days after the lecture performed significantly better on the final test than the other students, indicating the benefit of increasing the spaces between revision for long-term retention.

Furthermore, biologically, a phenomenon known as the ‘massed-spaced effect’ is a hallmark feature of memory formation in neurons, an effect that can be replicated during spaced repetition.

Sean Kang, a cognitive psychologist, says that, “When we space out our learning periods, they are much more effective for learning than if you have those repetitions in close sequence.”

This learning method is something that can easily be applied in the tutoring world. Having sessions with students once a week gives tutors the perfect opportunity to practice spaced repetition by revising key and difficult concepts once a week over a number of weeks. Even if only a short time per week is dedicated to revision of previous work, the impact may be significant and greatly improve the student’s overall understanding of the work.

With the right strategies, learning can be made much easier in a number of ways. In the case of memory and long-term retention, it’s clear that spaced repetition is an important strategy to implement!

Ceara Kearnes