the varied practice approach focuses on the distribution of practice in time, the organization of activities to be practiced (blocked vs. random), and the interleaving of information or content to highlight distinctions that facilitate learning. for example, a varied practice approach to learning to shoot a basketball might involve a sequence of ten mid-range jump shots, followed by ten layups, followed by ten free throws, followed by ten three-pointers, with the entire cycle repeating ten times. this contrasts with traditional approaches in which the learner is encouraged to focus on mastering a particular aspect or subset of the relevant information before moving on to new problems (e.g., focusing on free throws before moving to three-pointers). with varied practice, the learner is exposed to multiple versions of the problem even early in training.