[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-591703-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-591703-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","interleaving-in-math-a-research-based-strategy-to-boost-learning","Interleaving in Math - A Research-Based Strategy to Boost Learning","","Interleaving in Math presents a research-based approach for improving both short-term performance and long-term retention in mathematics instruction. It explains why deeply taught content may still fail to translate into durable understanding, then connects retrieval and memory research to classroom implementation. The article contrasts blocked practice sets with interleaved problem arrangements, showing how mixing related concepts can strengthen learning and transfer, supported by examples and references.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/interleaving-in-math-a-research-based-strategy-to-boost-learning/591703/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/interleaving-in-math-a-research-based-strategy-to-boost-learning/591703.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Dipper","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-05","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",9,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"Why might students perform well right after a unit but learn poorly long term?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Even when students master content during assessments, without opportunities to retrieve and revisit information over time, understanding does not deepen or stick for later learning.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What does interleaving mean in math instruction?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Interleaving is a strategy of mixing up concepts so students practice multiple related ideas across a problem set rather than completing one concept’s problems in a single block.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How do blocked and interleaved practice sets differ?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Blocked sets introduce problems for one concept in sequence, while interleaved sets rearrange the same types and number of practice problems so students must distinguish concepts during practice.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},591703,1792210093,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,111,115,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":112,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,30,"research-report",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":112,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":102,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},1374404997633,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd","ILLUSTRAT IONS BY JAMES YANG  \nInterleaving in Math  \nA Research-Based Strategy to Boost Learning  \nBy PoojaK. Agarwaland Anne Agostinelli  \nW  \nhen the Common Core State Standards were introduced in Illinois in 2010, teachers became very adept at planning hyper-focused units that “dove deeply” into the content and worked to develop  \nstudents’ mathematical habits through the Common Core’s Standards for Mathematical Practice. It was an exciting time; as a math teacher in Illinois, I (Anne) got to solve and learn about rich tasks, there were more opportunities for crossschool collaboration than ever before, and I spent time thinking about the “how” of facilitating problem solving in my classroom.  \nSo why, then, were my students performing so well in the short term and so poorly in the long term, when their learning and understanding of the content seemed so deep? Why did students who I taught in seventh grade swear to me in eighth  \nPooja K. Agarwal is a cognitive scientist and coauthor of Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning. Anne Agostinelli is a seventh-and eighth-grade math teacher in the Chicago Public Schools. Follow them on Twitter @RetrieveLearn and @AnneAgost.  \ngrade that they had never heard of similar geometric figures, when we spent six weeks studying them and they rocked every assessment at the end of the unit?  \nI had thought that because we had spent ample time on content and students were able to solve complex problems on the unit assessments, that we were good. What I later realized was that I had not created opportunities for students to continue retrieving the information over time to improve and deepen their learning.  \nFrom this realization, I began to look into memory research and tried to think about ways to weave in review. Everything I came across was labeled as “spiraling,” and it seemed like a lot of work to put together things like daily warm-ups and then a lot of class time to dedicate to this separate piece of an alreadypacked class period.  \nThen, I started to notice a strategy called interleaving* in the research I was reading. After learning more about the science of learning and connecting with Pooja, a cognitive scientist, I began to understand both what the research has shown about this  \n*For resources on interleaving, [visit www.retrievalpractice.org/interleaving](visit www.retrievalpractice.org/interleaving).  \n24 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | SPRING 2020  \nresearch-based strategy and how to implement it quickly and easily in my classroom.†  \nInterleaving: Simply Mix It Up  \nOne of the most fundamental strategies in mathematics instructionis practice problems. Why? Because, as we all know, practicing a skill improves the performance of that skill. At the sametime, we also know that just because students can correctly answer practice problems doesn’t mean they fully understand the concept or how to apply a formula—especially not in the long term. In other words, just because students understand a key concept in seventh grade doesn’t guarantee they’ll understand or remember the same concept in eighth grade.  \nHow can we ensure that students are learning math and improving their skills, both in the short term and the long term? As described in the book Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning, research by cognitive scientists demonstrates that interleaving, or the simple strategy of mixing up concepts to be learned, can increase (and even double) math learning.1  \nThink about a typical problem set from a textbook. A lesson on ratios, for instance, might be followed by a dozen ratio problems. This is a blocked arrangement, where problems on one concept are introduced all at once, followed by problems on a second concept, then problems on a third concept, and so on. In fact, an analysis of six popular middle school math textbooks found that more than 80 percent of the practice problems were blocked.2  \nLess common—but more powerful for learning—is an interleaved arrangement, whe","cbCaitmNNq2hbsz2","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaitmNNq2hbsz2","pdf",416544,"English","# Interleaving in Math - A Research-Based Strategy to Boost Learning\n## Why long-term learning lagged behind\n## Interleaving: Simply mix it up\n## Comparing blocked and interleaved practice\n## Practical example and learning impact","[{\"question\":\"Why might students perform well right after a unit but learn poorly long term?\",\"answer\":\"Even when students master content during assessments, without opportunities to retrieve and revisit information over time, understanding does not deepen or stick for later learning.\"},{\"question\":\"What does interleaving mean in math instruction?\",\"answer\":\"Interleaving is a strategy of mixing up concepts so students practice multiple related ideas across a problem set rather than completing one concept’s problems in a single block.\"},{\"question\":\"How do blocked and interleaved practice sets differ?\",\"answer\":\"Blocked sets introduce problems for one concept in sequence, while interleaved sets rearrange the same types and number of practice problems so students must distinguish concepts during practice.\"}]","Interleaving in Math - A Research-Based Strategy to Boost Learning | PDF",1792073027,15]