Getting the most out of spacing involves figuring out the right amount of time to space. This is important because better recall is positively correlated with the amount of spacing up until a certain point, after which recall begins to worsen with longer spacing intervals. The optimal amount of spacing depends on the RI, with longer RIs corresponding to longer periods in between spacing. Demonstrating this is an example from a study by Cependa et al., who showed that "the optimal spacing gap for a one-week test delay is about one day, while the optimal spacing gap for a one year test delay is about three weeks"

Comparing spacing and retention intervals

Research on spacing in education has suggested that there is a relationship between how much students benefit from spacing and their prior knowledge of material being studied and academic ability. Some theories about spacing propose that the optimal spacing interval should depend on students' prior knowledge/ability.

Prior knowledge/ability

Some findings from previous literature suggest that how self-directed learning is can influence the degree to which spacing impacts learning outcomes, and the benefits of spacing are different depending on if studying is self-regulatory or not. 

Degree of self-regulation of learning

The outcomes of spacing and how much one can benefit from it can depend on different factors, including:
- comparing spacing and retention intervals
- prior knowledge/ability 
- degree of self-regulation of learning

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Cramming is not beneficial to long term retention. Rather, the spacing effect has shown that it is helpful to study in smaller sessions throughout a long period of time.

Spacing Effect in Learning

Carvalho, P.F., Sana, F. & Yan, V.X. (2020). Self-regulated spacing in a massive open online course is related to better learning. npj Sci. Learn. 5(2), 1-7.

Self-regulated spacing in a massive open online course is related to better learning

Spacing studying has been demonstrated to enhance student learning. even though this has been demonstrated in experimental settings, it is difficult for teachers to effectively develop instructional practices that include effective spacing strategies. spacing since it is a desirable difficulty, students struggle to "buy-in" to the strategy

Spacing Effect in Teaching Techniques

Students space out their studying instead of massing (i.e. review the learning materials over a longer period of time). 

Spacing Effect in Study Habits

Optimizing the spacing effect in education

To better understand the spacing effect in education, it's important to research what type of learning decisions students make when learning is self-regulated (as opposed to directed spacing in lab settings). One study used student data collected from a MOOC to examine if to examine various self-regulated spacing decisions and how they relate to student ability and learning outcomes. Spacing was defined as the number of sessions a student spent studying the unit that was covered by the quiz. Pretest grades (used to measure prior knowledge) and time spent in unit were used as predictor variables of performance. Data was analyzed from quizzes on 11 different units so that spacing effects could be examined within the same student.

Spacing effect in MOOCs

Study for one hour each day the week leading up to an exam, rather than studying all night the day before the exam.

Example of Spacing effect in learning

How the spacing effect has been used and observed in STEM learning by teachers and students. 

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