MASTERY LEARNING

1. MASTERY LEARNING Debbie Jowanna Colleen Dean

2. Mastery Learning • Is an instructional strategy in which students learn one topic before moving on to the next subsequent topic • Students must demonstrate competence in one area before proceeding to the next • Mastery learning is based on 3 assumptions: 1. Almost every student can learn a topic to mastery 2. Some students need more time than others 3. Some students need more help than others Therefore most students can learn if given sufficient time and instruction to do so

3. Mastery Learning 4 Components • SMALL DISCRETE UNITS-The subject matter is broken up into a bunch of little lessons that covers a small amount of material • A LOGICAL SEQUENCE-The basic concepts and procedures are learned before the more complex ones • DEMOSTRATION OF MASTERY AT END OF EACH LESSON- Students can’t move to the next lesson until they show that they mastered the proceeding lesson.

4. Mastery Learning 4 Components • 4. ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR STUDENTS NEEDING EXTRA HELP OR PRACTICE TO ATTAIN MASTERY- Support and resources are tailored to individual needs. Examples could include a different instructional approach, different material, study groups, or individual tutoring.

5. Mastery Learning Applied to Educational Theories • BEHAVIORIST-Complex behaviors are more easily learned via “shaping” whereby a simple response is reinforced until it occurs frequently (mastered) , than a slightly more difficult response is reinforced, and so on. • COGNITIVE-Skills and information that needs to be retrieved rapidly or used in complex problem-solving needs to be practiced and learned thoroughly so that “automaticity” is obtained • SOCIAL-The ability to perform a task successfully and easily enhances the students’ self-efficacy for performing similar tasks

6. Appropriate Teaching Situations to Apply Mastery Learning • Most appropriate when the subject matter is hierarchical in nature-that is, when certain concepts and skills provide a foundation for future learning. Examples: basic key scientific concepts, basic math, and basic nursing skills. • Mastery learning is NOT appropriate for long-term goals such as critical thinking, scientific reason, and creative writing

7. Appropriate Settings for Mastery Learning • Mastery Learning can be applied in almost any setting • In a lab where new nurses can learn basic skills like vital signs, injections, Foley insertion etc. • In the clinical setting, teaching new nurses • In patients’ hospital room, teaching patients • In the classroom learning multiplication facts • On the sports field, practicing a sport

8. Pros to Mastery Learning • Helps students id what they have learned and what they need to learn better • Correctives are individualized • Prevents minor learning difficulties from accumulating and becoming major learning problems • Gives teachers a practical means to vary and differentiate instruction in order to better meet student’s needs • Students master the important learning goals and gain necessary prerequisites for success in subsequent units • Help students overcome their individual learning difficulties • Offers students a second chance at success • Special enrichment activities to broaden learning experiences

9. Pros to mastery learning cont. • More appropriate quality of instruction • Reduces the variation in students’ achievement levels • Helps teachers close achievement gaps in learning goals • Yields a distribution of achievement • Students are given extended time to master the learning objectives • This type of learning enables the student to relate his/her learning to many problems in day to day activities • Learn more and quicker in later units • Students have prerequisite skills to move to the next unit • Requires teachers to do task analysis, becoming better prepared to teach each unit • Requires teachers to state objectives before designating activities • Can break cycle of failure (especially for minority and disadvantaged students)

10. Cons to Mastery Learning • One to two weeks of class instructional time on mastery learning model • Time consuming • No single method of instruction works for all • Teachers must increase variation in their teaching to decrease variation in results • Must provide students who need it with an alternative approach • Students may need additional time to learn • Implementation of mastery learning will require more time at first

11. Cons to Mastery Learning cont. • Activities must be planned to give students opportunities to practice and actively engage in skills • Each learning goal must be mastered before moving onto the next goal • Must be flexible • If only objective tests are uses, can lead to memorizing and learning specifics rather that higher levels of learning • Must have several tests for each unit • Must have variety of materials for remediation • Not all students progress at same pace

12. Mastery Learning Process and Adaptation Unit One Formative Assessment A Correctives Enrichment Activities Formative Assessment B Unit two This teaching strategy is all about adaptation. The teacher must be able to be flexible in their teaching methods to assure each student achieves mastery of each lesson. This may require creativity on the teachers part in the correctives and formative assessment B sections. Each student may need individualized correctives and formative assessment B. Also the teacher must be creative in keeping the other students stimulated in their enrichment activities. This requires patients and extra work on the teachers part.

13. Conclusion Mastery Learning • In Mastery Learning, learning can be transformed from a virtually adventitious features of programmed instruction to a major desirable characteristic of instruction. There can become strong reasons why instruction should abandon a standard like of 70% passing. The aim of mastery learning is to achieve all objectives learned/mastered. Mastery learning is not only used at school but during the students entire life. The aim of education should be accepted by the individual, and the student should not attend school only for the purpose of obtaining a diploma. The student should accept knowledge and skills related to the chosen profession voluntarily and be more motivated to strive for it.

14. References • Applying mastery learning techniques. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2010, from www.centerii.org/handbook/.../8_F_Applying_mastery_technique s.pdf • Bastable, S. B. (2008). Nurse as educator principles of teaching and learning for nursing practice (3rd ed.). Sudbury, MA : Jones and Bartlett. • Guskey, T. R. (2005, April). Formative classroom assessment and Benjamin S. Bloom: theory, research, and implications. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Montreal, Canada. • Kazu, I. Y., Kazu, H., & Ozdemir, O. (2005). The effects of mastery learning model on the success of the students who attended usage of basic information technologies course. Educational Technology & Society, 8(4), 233-243. • Ormrod, J. E. (2008). Educational psychology developing learners (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.