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The Leitner system is a widely used method of efficiently using
flashcard A flashcard or flash card (also known as an index card) is a card bearing information on both sides, which is intended to be used as an aid in memorization. Each flashcard bears a question on one side and an answer on the other. Flashcards are ...
s that was proposed by the German science journalist
Sebastian Leitner Sebastian Leitner (1919 in Salzburg – 1989) was a German commentator and Popular science, science popularizer. As a student in Vienna, he was briefly kept in custody by the Nazis in 1938 because of his opposition to the annexation of Austria ...
in the 1970s. It is a simple implementation of the principle of
spaced repetition Spaced repetition is an evidence-based learning technique that is usually performed with flashcards. Newly introduced and more difficult flashcards are shown more frequently, while older and less difficult flashcards are shown less frequently i ...
, where cards are reviewed at increasing intervals.


Method

In this method, flashcards are sorted into groups according to how well the learner knows each one in Leitner's learning box. The learners try to recall the solution written on a flashcard. If they succeed, they send the card to the next group. If they fail, they send it back to the first group. Each succeeding group has a longer period before the learner is required to revisit the cards. In Leitner's original method, published in his book ''So lernt man Lernen'' (How to learn to learn), the schedule of repetition was governed by the size of the partitions in the learning box. These were 1, 2, 5, 8, and 14cm. Only when a partition became full was the learner to review some of the cards it contained, moving them forward or back depending on whether they remembered them.


Examples


Three boxes

Suppose there are 3 boxes of cards called "Box 1", "Box 2" and "Box 3". The cards in Box 1 are the ones that the learner often makes mistakes with, and Box 3 contains the cards that they know very well. They might choose to study the Box 1 cards once a day, Box 2 every 3 days, and Box 3 cards every 5 days. If they look at a card in Box 1 and get the correct answer, they "promote" it to Box 2. A correct answer with a card in Box 2 "promotes" that card to Box 3. If they make a mistake with a card in Box 2 or Box 3, it gets "demoted" to the first box, which forces the learner to study that card more often. The advantage of this method is that the learner can focus on the most difficult flashcards, which remain in the first few groups. The result is, ideally, a reduction in the amount of study time needed.


Proficiency levels

With this method, there are 12 boxes. One is the Current Deck, one is the Retired Deck, and the remaining 10 boxes are named with these numbers: * 0-2-5-9 * 1-3-6-0 * 2-4-7-1 * 3-5-8-2 * 4-6-9-3 * 5-7-0-4 * 6-8-1-5 * 7-9-2-6 * 8-0-3-7 * 9-1-4-8 Learning sessions are numbered from 0 to 9, then the numbering starts over again (i.e. 0, 1, 2, ..., 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, ...). All cards begin in Deck Current. All cards in Deck Current are done at every learning session. If a learner is successful at a card from Deck Current, it gets transferred to the deck that begins with that session's number. For example, if this is session 0, a successful card in Deck Current moves to box 0-2-5-9; If this is session 3, a successful card from Deck Current moves to box 3-5-8-2. A box of cards is reviewed when its name contains the current session number. For example, if this is session 0, boxes 0-2-5-9, 1-3-6-0, 5-7-0-4, and 8-0-3-7 are done because they all contain the number 0. If a reviewed card isn't successful, it moves back to Deck Current. If a reviewed card is successful and the last number of its box matches the current session number, then that card moves to the Retired Deck. For example, if this is session 9 and you're reviewing box 0-2-5-9, then any successful cards from this box will move to the Retired Deck. If a reviewed card is successful and the last number of its box doesn't match the current session number, then that card stays where it is. The effect is identical to a 5-box Leitner system, however, whereas in that system each box represents the proficiency level of its contents, here each box represents the session in which it is done.


Automation

Ideas similar to these have been implemented into a number of
computer-assisted language learning Computer-assisted language learning (CALL), British, or Computer-Aided Instruction (CAI)/Computer-Aided Language Instruction (CALI), American, is briefly defined in a seminal work by Levy (1997: p. 1) as "the search for and study of applicat ...
and flashcard software. Much of this software makes use of so-called "electronic flashcards".


References

{{Spaced repetition Learning methods de:Lernkartei