What best describes the ratio of time spent actively practicing compared to resting?

The term that best describes the ratio of time spent actively practicing compared to resting is practice distribution. This concept specifically refers to how practice sessions are structured, emphasizing the balance between active engagement in learning skills and the necessary rest periods that allow for recovery and consolidation of what has been learned.

In practice distribution, effective scheduling is essential for optimizing performance and skill acquisition. A balanced distribution ensures that learners can maintain focus and engagement during practice while also provisioning adequate rest to enhance learning efficiency.

While massed practice focuses on long, uninterrupted practice sessions with minimal rest, and distributed practice entails shorter sessions with greater rest intervals, these terms represent specific methods of structuring practice rather than a broad description of the ratio of practice to rest. Diminishing returns refers to a principle in which the incremental gains from additional practice decrease over time, which is not directly related to the ratio of active practice to rest. Therefore, recognizing practice distribution as the term highlighting the effective combination of active engagement and recovery supports a better understanding of how to optimize learning in physical education.