Interleaved Learning

A problem faced by all learners is how to remember previously learned knowledge when presented with something new. 'Catastrophic interference’ is the term used to describe the process whereby new learning effectively wipes from our memories what we previously knew. Interleaved learning is a way of introducing material to children to help them learn new skills alongside previously learned ones to facilitate long-term retention. This involves integrating new knowledge with the old through a three step procedure where new and old learning are first of all practised separately before being integrated and practised alongside each other. Interleaved learning goes a long way towards helping learners retain what they have been taught through mixing the old with the new. Thus, the advantages of interleaved learning are that it (i) minimises forgetting, (ii) helps children to discriminate different skills, (iii) promotes high levels of accuracy and fluency and (iv) enables children to generalise their skills to reading.