Distributed learning is a learning process where the content to be learned is spread over a duration of time. Massed learning, on the other hand, is whereby high learning content is acquired within a short period . The intervals in distributed learning between learning sessions are larger than those in massed learning. Massed learning can be referred in other words as cramming. Like a lot of content is taken in over a short period. Distributed learning is considered to be a better way of learning than massed learning. In massed learning long-term ability to remember is not guaranteed.
The question is how effective are the two methods? Is it a case of individuality and what fits the individual?
At the end of the week, the students were to sit for a vocabulary test. The task was divided in a way that three exercises were to be done. The first exercise had multiple choices for students to complete. The second activity students were to fill in French the name of the occupation described in a sentence. The exercise was a fill-in the blanks format. The third activity was also a fill-in the blanks where students were required to provide a French name for an occupation described in French.
At the end of the week, the test was given which required students to fill French name for occupations described in English. The order of the questions was rearranged differently from the way it was in the practice test provided earlier in the week. The students were informed that the exercise was part of their regular class work, and marks assignment would be given at the end of the unit. To ensure independence in each group doing their job the groups were separated. The aim was to avoid the groups sharing information and progress of each group.
The time slot was allocated to a 30 minutes time slot for each group. Within the 30 minutes, the students were to learn the 20 vocabulary words. The assignments were three each allocated a ten minutes slots and was to be completed within that period. The group under distributed practice studied for 10 minutes on each of the three consecutive days. The massed practice group was given an entirely different assignment for the first two days and had no access to the vocabulary test. On the third day, thy worked on all the three exercises in the 30 minutes slot. The distributed practice group (A) was given the unrelated activity previous allocated to the massed practice group. At the end of the allocated time, all assignments were collected. The two groups were finally joined in the last 10-minute slot to complete one of the practice tests.
On completion of this practice test by all the students after being joined, the vocabulary test was given to the students as had earlier been informed. After seven days after the vocabulary test, another test was administered without prior warning for preparation nor practice test are given for preparation.
The results were later given back to a table given to explain the mean marks for both groups:
The students from massed practice can recall facts from the short-term memory. The distributed learning process enables the students not only learn the vocabulary but also recall from the long-term memory. With distributed learning students are bound to benefit more, “the ability to remember from the long-term memory may be a process that can improve with practice.”
The distributed learning in the school setting is essential, where the tutor spreads the content to be taught over a period, “distribution of practice during learning in a school setting can substantially increase the number of material students remember.” Distributed learning can be effectively done through procedural learning. Procedural learning involves repeating an act over and over again until the ability to remember is automatically mastered. Distributed learning is the kind of learning that is used in the military training.
The concept of memory and learning is intertwined and understanding how the two core relates is essential. The ability to understand can be comprehended as learning while the capacity to remember is comprehended as memory. The remembering ability is determined by how well the facts we understood, “If students cannot remember what they have learned, they might as well not have learned it in the first place.” The ability of teachers/tutors understanding this concept will play a vital role in assisting student’s experience better learning. The distributed learning stands out to be better as it emphasizes on retention of learned content which influences the ability to remember content. Distribution learning seems to be more geared towards the retention of ideas than students failing to grasp a variety of concepts as compared to massive learning that does so. Distributed learning is more geared towards developing the intellectual states of the learning parties as compared to the massive learning who primary aim is to deliver huge concepts to a learner that can be hardly understood in one go. For this reason, distributed learning is viewed as the best form of learning and acquisition of knowledge for intellectual purposes .
References
Bloom, C., K., & Shuell., a. T. (1981). Effects of massed and distributed practice on the learning and retention of second-language vocabulary. he Journal of Educational Research 74.4, 245-248.
Childers, B., J., & Tomasello., a. M. (2002). Two-year-olds learn novel nouns, verbs, and conventional actions from massed or distributed exposures. Developmental psychology 38.6, 967.
Izawa, & Chizuko. (2014). Efficient learning: The total time, exposure duration, frequency, and programming of the study phase.Cognitive Psychology Applied: A Symposium at the 22nd International Congress of Applied Psychology. Psychology Press.
Melton, & W., A. (1970). The situation with respect to the spacing of repetitions and memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 9.5 , 596-606.
Underwood, & J, B. (2014). Temporal Codes for Memories (PLE: Memory): Issues and Problems. Psychology Press.
Underwood, o., & BJ. (1957). some evidence on the nature of inhibition involved in massed learning. Journal of experimental psychology, 139-143.
Wingard, C., J., & al., e. (2015). Differential effects of massed and spaced training on place and response learning: A memory systems perspective. Behavioural processes 118, 85-89.
