| 1 | 1 | Tectonic plates — structure of the Earth | — (baseline assessment: what do students already know?) |
| 1 | 2 | Tectonic plates — plate boundaries | Retrieve: sketch Earth's layers from memory, label and annotate |
| 1 | 3 | Tectonic plates — convection currents | Retrieve: name 3 plate boundary types and one feature of each |
| 1 | 4 | Earthquakes — causes and focus/epicentre | Retrieve: explain in 3 sentences how convection currents drive plate movement |
| 1 | 5 | Earthquakes — measuring and effects | Retrieve: draw and label a diagram showing focus, epicentre, and seismic waves |
| 2 | 1 | Earthquakes — case studies | Retrieve: Tectonic plates — 5 free-recall questions on plate boundaries (first spaced review, ~7 days) |
| 2 | 2 | Volcanoes — formation and types | Retrieve: compare two earthquake case studies from memory — causes, effects, responses |
| 2 | 3 | Volcanoes — eruption processes | Mixed retrieve: 3 Qs on tectonic plates + 2 Qs on earthquake measurement |
| 2 | 4 | Volcanoes — case studies | Retrieve: draw a cross-section of a composite volcano from memory, label 5 features |
| 2 | 5 | Volcanoes — living with volcanic risk | Retrieve: Earthquakes full topic — "Write everything you know about earthquakes in 5 minutes" (brain dump) |
| 3 | 1 | Weathering & erosion — types of weathering | Mixed retrieve: 4 Qs interleaving tectonic plates and volcanoes (2 weeks since tectonics — expanding interval) |
| 3 | 2 | Weathering & erosion — erosion processes | Retrieve: name and explain 3 types of weathering from memory |
| 3 | 3 | Weathering & erosion — erosion vs weathering | Retrieve: Volcanoes — blank diagram: label volcanic features and explain formation |
| 3 | 4 | River landscapes — long profile and processes | Mixed retrieve: distinguish weathering from erosion + 2 Qs on earthquake effects |
| 3 | 5 | River landscapes — upper course features | Retrieve: Weathering & erosion — explain 4 types of river erosion from memory |
| 4 | 1 | River landscapes — middle course features | Mixed retrieve: 2 Qs tectonic plates + 2 Qs volcanoes + 1 Q weathering (interleaved, ~3 weeks since tectonics) |
| 4 | 2 | River landscapes — lower course features | Retrieve: draw and annotate the long profile of a river from memory |
| 4 | 3 | River landscapes — flooding | Retrieve: Earthquakes — compare two case studies + explain one measurement scale |
| 4 | 4 | River landscapes — flood management | Mixed retrieve: 3 Qs on river processes + 2 Qs on erosion types |
| 4 | 5 | Consolidation / depth lesson | Full interleaved quiz: 10 Qs across all 5 topics (2 per topic, mixed order) |
| 5 | 1 | Extended writing: comparing physical processes | Retrieve: River landscapes — sketch upper/middle/lower course features from memory |
| 5 | 2 | Case study depth: chosen topic | Mixed retrieve: 5 Qs interleaving volcanoes, weathering, rivers |
| 5 | 3 | Connections between topics | Retrieve: Tectonic plates — full free recall (4 weeks since initial teaching — critical spacing point) |
| 5 | 4 | Exam technique: using case studies | Mixed retrieve: 6 Qs across all 5 topics, focusing on commonly confused concepts |
| 5 | 5 | Practice assessment | Retrieve: quick-fire 1-minute-per-question across all 5 topics before practice assessment |
| 6 | 1 | Review based on practice assessment gaps | Targeted retrieval on weakest 2 topics from practice assessment data |
| 6 | 2 | Targeted depth: weakest topic | Retrieve: second-weakest topic from practice assessment |
| 6 | 3 | Targeted depth: second weakest | Mixed interleaved retrieval: all 5 topics, emphasis on gap areas |
| 6 | 4 | Final consolidation | Full brain dump: everything you know about all 5 topics in 12 minutes |
| 6 | 5 | Assessment | — |
