Mastery Learning Chapter Seventeen

Mastery learning is based on several concepts. Central is the concept of staying with something until it is thoroughly learned – is mastered – and will stay learned. The students are taught to continue practice or rehearsal until they know they have the content – whether skill or knowledge fully in hand.

Second is the concept of time. If more time is needed, then it should be provided. Learning takes precedence over covering content in specified amounts of time. Student need to share responsibility for finding time – 20 minutes of homework for one student may be 40 minutes for another.

Prerequisites for learning tasks are identified – and measured. They need to be mastered before instruction begins. Pretests also measure whether content has been learned before instruction commences and how much needs to be learned in any given area. Pre and post-assessments also are used to measure gain – and whether additional instruction is needed.

1. Mastery of any subject is defined in terms of sets of major objectives that represent the purposes of the course or unit. 2. The larger substance is then divided into sets of relatively small learning units, each one accompanied by its own objectives, which are parts of the larger ones or thought essential to their mastery. 3. Learning materials are then identified and the instructional strategy (Model of Teaching) selected.

4. Each unit is accompanied by brief diagnostic tests that measure the student’s developing progress (the formative evaluation) and identify the particular problems each student is having. Knowledge of progress is fed back to the students to act as a reinforcement. (Praise and encouragement can, if contiguous with correct performance, serve as reinforcement also.) 5. The data obtained from administering the tests are used to provide supplementary instruction to the student to help overcome problems. (Bloom, 1971, pp. 47–63)