Ep 220: What Interleaved Practice Teaches Us About Real Learning

New Teacher Talk kicks off a special Science of Learning series with Dr. Ken King of Aurora University. In this first episode, Dr. King makes a case that may feel counterintuitive: the practice that feels easiest is often the practice that teaches the least. The focus is interleaved practice, the strategy of mixing different problem types and topics together rather than drilling them one block at a time. Dr. King explains why blocked practice, like twenty fraction problems in a row or fifty free throws before layups, creates quick, visible improvement that can fool us. It looks like learning, but it often fades. Interleaving feels harder, students make more mistakes, and they frequently believe they are learning less, yet it produces stronger retention and deeper understanding over time. Along the way, Dr. King unpacks the research behind why it works: how interleaving reduces discrimination errors by forcing students to compare similar concepts, how it builds storage strength by pulling information from long-term memory, and why these "desirable difficulties" lead to deeper processing. He closes with practical ways to bring it into your classroom at any grade level. What you will take away: Why strong performance during practice does not equal lasting learning The difference between blocked and interleaved practice, and when each has its place How mixing problem types forces students to decide what they are looking at before deciding how to respond Grade-level examples for elementary math, middle school science, and high school English A book recommendation to go deeper, Powerful Teaching by Agarwal and Bain If this episode gave you something to try, or there is a learning-science topic you want us to cover next, leave us a review. We read every one, and your feedback shapes the series #NewTeacherTalk #ScienceOfLearning #InterleavedPractice #EvidenceBasedTeaching #TeacherPD #InstructionalStrategies #CognitiveScience #NewTeacherSupport #PowerfulTeaching #TeachingStrategies