Spaced learning

Spaced learning is a learning method in which highly condensed learning content is repeated three times, with two 10-minute breaks during which distractor activities such as physical activities are performed by the students. It is based on the temporal pattern of stimuli for creating long-term memories reported by R. Douglas Fields in Scientific American in 2005. This 'temporal code' Fields used in his experiments was developed into a learning method for creating long-term memories by Paul Kelley, who led a team of teachers and scientists as reported in Making Minds in 2008.

A paper on the method has been published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. This makes a substantial scientific case for this approach to learning based on research over many years in different species. The distinctive features of the approach are made clear: the speed of instruction being minutes (as opposed to hours, days or months), the spaces and their function, and why content is repeated three times. Spaced learning has been reported in other species as being required for long-term memory creation, a finding that gives considerable weight to its use in education.