Principle
Interleave confusable cases, not unrelated workstreams
Interleaving is not multitasking with better branding.
When it fits
- You want the benefits of mixed practice and start alternating study with email, another project or a completely different subject.
When to avoid it
- Interleaving is not always superior. Use blocked practice when a novice still cannot execute the basic method at all.
Why it matters
Mix examples that require you to choose among similar methods, categories or diagnoses inside the same learning goal. Keep unrelated workstreams outside the block. The useful difficulty is deciding which rule applies; the useless difficulty is rebuilding context after every switch.
An example
Mix several BP relationship and partner-function cases; do not call switching from them to email and budgeting 'interleaving.'
Check your result
Each switch inside the block trains a distinction the assessment may require.
Keep this limit in mind
- Interleaving is not always superior. Use blocked practice when a novice still cannot execute the basic method at all.
Connected ideas
Compare withKeep the break free of the same cognitive demand
Evidence and sources
Interleaved learning can improve discrimination and later performance in some tasks, with similarity and material type moderating the effect.
Interleaving unrelated tasks is not the same intervention and can add switching costs.
Similarity matters: A meta-analysis of interleaved learning and its moderators · Abstract
A review of interruption-management experiments found interventions can reduce resumption lag and improve primary-task accuracy, with effects varying by task and intervention.
Most evidence is laboratory-based and does not prescribe complete isolation.