Kapler et al. (2015). Spacing in a simulated undergraduate classroom

Reviewed by Tony Ingram, PhD
Review posted August 28, 2025

Full Citation

Kapler, I. V., Weston, T., & Wiseheart, M. (2015). Spacing in a simulated undergraduate classroom: Long-term benefits for factual and higher-level learning. Learning and Instruction, 36, 38–45.

Abstract

Despite showing robust benefits in lab-based research, there remain relatively few studies exploring the spacing effect in educational contexts with meaningful materials. In this study, participants (N = 169 undergraduate students) attended a simulated university lecture where they were presented with natural science curriculum material. Participants reviewed the material either one day or eight days after the lecture via an online review. Participants completed a final test on the material five weeks after each respective review. During the review and final test participants were asked both factual and higher-level (application) questions. Results showed that reviewing material eight days after the lecture led to better final test performance for both types of questions when compared to reviewing only one day after the lecture. This study suggests that spaced review is a robust and effective strategy that can be and should be adapted to classroom practice.

Key Results

Note that reliability here refers to the certainty of the result (terminology likely to change in a future site update).

Result Name

Effect Size

Reliability

Spaced vs. Massed – Factual Recall (Simple)

Small

Low

Spaced vs. Massed – Application Questions (Complex)

Study Characteristics

Learning Domain	Declarative Learning
Study Topic	Massed Practice, Spaced Practice
Study Type	Membership Required
Task Studied	Membership Required
Subject Type	Membership Required
Quality Score (%)*	Membership Required

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* Study quality assessed using JBI RCT Checklist.

Reviewer Notes

I’ve been looking for studies that compare spacing for simple versus complex declarative learning. This paper is one of the few that does it clearly. Students watched a university style lecture on science content, then reviewed either 1 day (massed) or 8 days (spaced) later. The final test came about five weeks after the review and included two kinds of questions: factual (simpler) and higher-level application (more complex).

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