The Mathematics Problem and Mastery Learning for First-Year, Undergraduate STEM Students
Keywords:
The Mathematics Problem, Mastery Learning, first-year undergraduate experience, competency-based assessment, educational case studyAbstract
In the 2014 academic year Mastery Learning was
implemented in four first-year mathematics subjects in an effort to
address a lack of preparedness and poor outcomes of increasing
numbers of undergraduate students in science, engineering and
mathematics programs. This followed partial success with the use of
diagnostic testing and pre-teaching, active learning, and a greater
emphasis on problem solving in context - under-prepared students were
still more likely to fail the pre-teaching subject and to struggle with
subsequent mathematics subjects. This paper describes the learning
design used, and the outcomes achieved, with implementing Mastery
Learning – the positive: improved academic success, time management,
and attitudes towards learning and Mathematics, an increased sense of
independence, confidence and retention of content, and reduced stress
and anxiety; and the negative: students having a sense of being taught
how to pass a test rather than having a deeper understanding of the
content. It will be seen that this negative is a consequence of a small but
important difference in implementation.
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Copyright (c) 2015 Layna Groen, Mary Coupland, Tim Langtry, Julia Memar, Beverley Moore, Jason Stanley
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