Judging credibility: Can spaced lessons help students think more critically online?
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Summary: Despite the prevalence of the spacing effect in the psychological literature, the impact of lesson timing has not yet been fully explored in real classrooms. The current study examined whether spacing could improve long‐term retention of both factual and critical thinking curriculum‐based teaching materials for children. Students 9 to 12 years old were taught to judge the credibility of websites in either three consecutive days of lessons or one lesson per week. Thirty‐five days after the final lesson, students were tested on factual knowledge and applied their knowledge to evaluating a new website. Students in the spaced condition remembered more facts from the lessons and were better able to explain their website ratings than students in the massed group.
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Studies aiming to improve students' critical thinking had the additional complexity of explicitly asking students to transfer or apply information to completely new situations.
“Moreover, the studies aiming to improve students’ critical thinking (i.e., Foot-Seymour et al., 2019; Foot-Seymour & Wiseheart, 2022) had the additional complexity of explicitly asking students to transfer or apply information to completely new situations.”
From The Distributed Practice Effect on Classroom Learning: A Meta-Analytic Review of Applied Research (2025) · cites this paper as Foot-Seymour et al., 2019
Except for studies applying distributed practice to critical thinking, distributed practice is yet to be widely applied to 21st-century skills learning.
“except for the studies applying distributed practice to critical thinking (Foot-Seymour et al., 2019; Foot-Seymour & Wiseheart, 2022), distributed practice is yet to be widely applied to 21st-century skills learning.”
From The Distributed Practice Effect on Classroom Learning: A Meta-Analytic Review of Applied Research (2025) · cites this paper as Foot-Seymour et al., 2019
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The science of effective learning with spacing and retrieval practice
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The Distributed Practice Effect on Classroom Learning: A Meta-Analytic Review of Applied Research
Mawson, R. D., & Kang, S. H. K. (2025) · Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.3390/bs15060771 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
- Authors
- Foot‐Seymour, V., Foot, J., & Wiseheart, M.
- Affiliations
- York University (CA)
- York Region District School Board Aurora Canada
- Corresponding author
- Wiseheart, Melody
- ORCID
- Wiseheart, Melody
- Venue
- Applied Cognitive Psychology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2019-03-14
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1032-1043
- ISSN
- 0888-4080 (ISSN-L)
- 1099-0720
- OpenAlex
- W2613523934
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 6 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 4.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Applied Cognitive Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Strategies and Epistemologies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes
- Keywords
- spacing effect, spaced learning, massed practice, long-term retention, critical thinking, online information credibility, factual knowledge, children
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