Do worked examples boost the spacing effect on lasting learning?

2025/03/03 by Julia Krauspe, Mirjam Ebersbach, Ann Ludwig +1 · 1 voice
Computer Science · Psychology · #Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods #Intelligent Tutoring Systems and Adaptive Learning #Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes

paper · doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2025.102103

openalex publication_date 2025/03/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

Background The acquisition of lasting knowledge that is accessible for a long time is an important educational goal. Spacing the learning or practice phase across multiple sessions fosters lasting learning, but the effect is less robust for complex material. Aims We examined whether the meaningful elaboration of the learning material, evoked by means of self-explaining worked examples, contributes to a more robust spacing effect concerning the lasting learning in mathematics. Sample Participants were fourth graders ( N = 213). Methods Children received a formal instruction to long multiplication in school. Thereafter, they practiced the procedure either in a massed or a spaced manner, and either by pure problem solving or by additionally self-explaining worked examples in their regular math lessons. Time on task was held constant in all conditions. In a delayed test after eight weeks, children's procedural and conceptual knowledge was assessed. Their general math ability and their specific prior knowledge served as control variables. Results Contrary to our expectations, there was neither a main effect of worked examples nor of spacing, and no interaction emerged between the two variables. Exploratory analyses revealed the same results concerning the forgetting rate between the last practice set and the test. These null effects were confirmed by Bayesian analyses . Only children's general math ability and their prior knowledge predicted their test performance. Conclusions The results suggest that the spacing effect in mathematics does not emerge reliably, even not when stimulated by worked examples. Further research on potential boundary conditions is required.

Citations

• The Testing Effect Is Alive and Well with Complex Materials
• A practical solution to the pervasive problems ofp values
• A Meta-analysis of the Spacing Effect in Verbal Learning: Implications for Research on Advertising Repetition and Consumer Memory
• Multimodel Inference
• Learning from Examples: Instructional Principles from the Worked Examples Research
• Robustness of linear mixed‐effects models to violations of distributional assumptions
• Violating the normality assumption may be the lesser of two evils
• A Time For Telling
• Test-Enhanced Learning

Discussions

• Krauspe’s et al. (2025) study investigated whether meaningful elaboration of learning material through self-explaining worked examples enhances the spacing effect for long-term learning 🧠 in mathema [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]

Related

• More Steps, Same Effect: Spacing Increases the Retention of Mathematics Procedures of Varying Complexity
• The Spacing Effect in Children's Generalization of Knowledge: Allowing Children Time to Forget Promotes Their Ability to Learn
• Does working memory moderate the effect of fading on math performance?
• The effects of interleaved practice
• Not New, but Nearly Forgotten: the Testing Effect Decreases or even Disappears as the Complexity of Learning Materials Increases