It is based on the temporal pattern of stimuli for creating long-term memories reported by R. Douglas Fields in Scientific American in 2005.
[1] This 'temporal code' Fields used in his experiments was developed into a learning method for creating long-term memories by Paul Kelley, who led a team of teachers and scientists as reported in Making Minds[2] in 2008.
The distinctive features of the approach are made clear: the speed of instruction being minutes (as opposed to hours, days or months), the spaces and their function, and why content is repeated three times.
Spaced learning has been reported in other species as being required for long-term memory creation, a finding that gives considerable weight to its use in education.
When the initial reports of outcomes were made public, media seized upon the condensed learning content as the key element in the approach used and the BBC national television news, The Sunday Times, The Independent, and The Economist[5] reported the approach largely in those terms ('8 minute lessons').