A lot of people don't like rote learning because it's not very fun. But is it effective? I explore this question with a rote learning example in learning to write Chinese characters.
0:00 An Intro to Rote Learning
1:01 Drawback 1 Blocked Practice
2:57 Drawback 2 Massed Practice
4:05 Drawback 3 Skill Isolation
If you want to be the first to know about the courses I'm releasing, sign up here: https://forms.gle/px7ZmXkvJW26uFWp8
Sign up to my email newsletter, Avoiding Folly, here: https://www.benjaminkeep.com/
REFERENCES
For a recent take on spaced (or distributed) practice, including evidence from neurological studies, read:
Gerbier, E., & Toppino, T. C. (2015). The effect of distributed practice: Neuroscience, cognition, and education. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 4(3), 49–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tine.2015.0...
If you want a more academic take, discussing theories and the available evidence circa 2006, check out:
Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380. https://doi.org/10.1037/00332909.132...
For a readable piece on the advantages (and potential drawbacks) of interleaved practice, check out:
Kang, S. H. (2016). The benefits of interleaved practice for learning. In From the laboratory to the classroom (pp. 7990). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapter...
And a great piece on how to leverage interleaved, spaced, and skillbuilding practice in the classroom is here:
Hughes, C. A., & Lee, J. Y. (2019). Effective approaches for scheduling and formatting practice: Distributed, cumulative, and interleaved practice. Teaching Exceptional Children, 51(6), 411423. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/...