Interleaved Practice

Say you've trained someone in active listening through three separate skills: asking open questions, paraphrasing, and labeling emotions accurately. Now you want them to decide when to use each skill in real conversations. You set up role-plays simulating conversations with a friend, a job interview, and a customer service complaint.

That's interleaved practice—challenges that require combining foundational skills learned separately. Individuals develop expertise by deciding which strategy fits each situation across varied problems.

How to Apply?

1. Break down a subject into three or four distinct skills and train each one independently. Example: Domain: Recognizing misinformation. Skills: Checking sources, identifying emotional manipulation, spotting logical fallacies.

2. Design the challenge:

• A. Choose an authentic situation. Pick something individuals will encounter in real life.

• B. Solve it yourself first. Verify the problem requires the skills you've trained.

• C. Describe the situation: "You're in a family group chat and your uncle shares a video..."

• D. State the challenge. "Explain to the group why this video spreads misinformation, identifying the main weakness."

• E. Have them solve it. Rule of thumb: Target 5-60 minutes per challenge.

• F. Give feedback on their reasoning. "You spotted logical fallacies. Why did you choose this one over the others?"

Key principles:

• Keep it to 3-4 combined skills maximum. More than that becomes overwhelming.

• Aim for an 80% success rate. If individuals succeed on 8 out of 10 exercises, the skill is likely developing well.

Quick win:

When teaching any subject, present situations where individuals must choose between several valid options. Then discuss the reasoning behind their choices.

Bjork & Bjork, 2011, Hendrik Carl, Wilson, et al. (2019)

Science: