Practice makes perfect, right? Kind of--but it takes the right kind of practice, something known as interleaving. Most of us are familiar with the usual "other" type: if we want to "master" the free throw, for example, we might take 300 shots in a row, until it gets dark, or our arms feel about to fall off.
Yet an 1978 experiment from the University of Ottawa involving 8-year-olds and bean bags demonstrated, practicing one thing successfully does not necessarily lead to transfer in a real situation. One group practiced throwing bean bags into a target from two and four feet. The other group practiced only at 3 feet. When the final test was conducted at three feet, the group that practiced only at two and four feet actually did much better.
Another study in 1986 from Louisiana State University studied how women players practiced three types of badminton serves. Group A performed blocked practice, rehearsing only one type of serve each session. Group B performed serial practice of the three serves. Group C did random practice of the three serves. After three weeks, group C (random) performed best, followed by the group B (serial), while group A (blocked) was the worst.
In 2007, at the University of South Florida, 24 grade 4 students had to calculate the number of faces, edges, corners and angles in a prism. Half the students learned in a blocked format, while the other half did the exact same problems but randomly. Results: the mixed-study group outperformed 77 to 38 percent.
Particularly in math word problems, the greatest challenge for students is in selecting the right strategy or algorithm needed. Therefore, mixed or random studying will give students the greatest amount of real practice necessary when they encounter a variety of questions and problems.
Repetition appears to show rapid improvement but then it plateaus. Varied practice, on the other hand, seems to show slower improvement but the results are a greater accumulation of skill and learning.
Here is where interleaving is so important to practice. It is the mixing related but distinct material during study. It works for pretty much all areas of learning: skateboarding, playing an instrument, cooking, algebra, art. Shorter breaks of different but related activities will achieve the most success, about 10-15 minutes each.
Real life is not so cut and dried, and you need to be able to recall a variety of facts, information and skills in order to solve real-life problems. Having experience in doing many different types of tasks will lead to the greatest amount of transfer of learning.
Source: How We Learn, Carey
1) Drink plenty of water! Your brain--made up with 73% water--can can dehydrated, just like the rest of your body. Nighttime is when much of your water is lost, so replenish it.
2) Exercise. Exercising releases hormones and brain chemicals that make you feel good. As well, it makes more brain cells at a faster rate in the Hippocampus, which plays a strong role in memory and emotions. Most importantly, if you want to keep your brain functioning well in your later years--exercise!
3) Manage your stress. Everyday stress if fine and normal, as the hormone cortisol helps release metabolism so more energy can deal with your problem. The main problem is chronic stress, which makes this cortisol suppress the immune system, making you susceptible to all kinds of illnesses.
4) Enjoy the sun. The UV light from the sun makes vitamin D, which makes an important brain chemical called serotonin. Essentially it keeps you in a good mood. Get out in even cloudy days, as there's still plenty of UV in the sky.
5) Drink caffeine. Believe it or not, caffeine is correlated to a number of health benefits, including reducing some types of cancers, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, cardiovascular disease and stroke. Before you think this is a miracle drug, remember these are all correlational studies. Still, if you're drinking a few cups of java, you can now probably drink without having any feelings of guilt.
What does this mean for our students? I think that having access to a water bottle or drinking fountain is important. As well, DPA (daily physical activity), especially outside, will help with exercise, memory and being in a good mood. To help manage stress, each day should have a balance of more challenging work, easier work, some "play time," quiet time, and fun activities. Too much focus on simply academic work could lead to greater stress. Also, differentiating the activities will help those students who do feel stress, and allow for all to achieve success. As for caffeine, let's wait until they're much older to worry to get into that habit.
(Source: Sort Your Brain Out; Lewis and Webster; MediLexicon International Ltd, Bexhill-on-Sea, UK)
Daniel H. Lee
This blog will be dedicated to sharing in three areas: happenings in my classroom and school; analysis and distillation of other educators' wealth of knowledge in various texts; insights from other disciplines and areas of expertise that relate and connect with educational practices.