The relationship between interleaving and variability effects: A cognitive load theory perspective

Ouhao Chen*, Endah Retnowati, Juan Cristobal Castro-Alonso, Fred Paas, John Sweller

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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    Abstract

    The interleaving effect indicates that students learn better from multiple areas that are interleaved rather than blocked. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that the effect is because interleaving facilitates comparisons between areas and is a variation of the variability effect that increases intrinsic cognitive load. Experiment 1 used an interleaved design with two obviously different topics and found no interleaving effect. Experiment 2 used a similar design but used topics that were more difficult to discriminate between, resulting in a clear advantage for the interleaved group associated with an increase in cognitive load. These results support the hypothesis that the interleaving and variability effects are closely related
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number1138
    Number of pages15
    JournalEducation Sciences
    Volume13
    Issue number11
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 14 Nov 2023

    Bibliographical note

    Funding:
    Funding from ANID/PIA/Basal Funds for Centers of Excellence FB0003 is gratefully acknowledged.

    Keywords

    • cognitive load theory
    • interleaving effect
    • variability effect
    • discrimination hypothesis
    • working memory resources
    • intrinsic cognitive load

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