MasteryLearningAndIq < Kitchen

24 Jun 2006 - 00:13

mastery learning and IQ

Through sheer serendipity, I've stumbled across the book with the answers:

Standards and Mastery Learning: Aligning Teaching and Assessment So All Children Can Learn

by J. Ronald Gentile, James P. Lalley.

Learning, in other words, occurs in phases or episodes, and this original learning phase includes (a) the readiness component (described above), (b) learning to initial mastery, and (c) forgetting....it is clear that forgetting is the inevitable result of initial learning, even when a high mastery standard of, say, 80% to 100% correct is required. When the degree of original learning is less than mastery, say, 60% to 80%, then forgetting is likely to occur more rapidly or be more complete. If it is less than 60%, it is questionable to speak of forgetting at all, because learning was inadequate in the first place.

why do we have to learn all this stuff?

Finally, an answer:

Students show that they understand this principle implicitly when they ask, “Why do we have to learn this stuff anyway? We’ll only forget it.” Our typical answers, “Because it will be on the test” or “Because I said so,” are not satisfactory. In fact, we have been able to find only one satisfactory answer to the question, and it was supplied in one of the first empirical studies of learning/forgetting (Ebbinghaus, 1885/1964). The answer is that relearning is faster—that is, there is a considerable savings of time in relearning compared with original learning. Furthermore, there is a positive relationship between amount of time saved in relearning and the degree of original learning, with essentially no savings when original learning is below some acceptable threshold (which we earlier argued was 60% or less).

fast learners, slower learners, memory, IQ

Suppose, however, that we ask how IQ relates to all of this. We already know, for example, that IQ is moderately but significantly correlated with memory. But suppose we randomly assign half the students to have to achieve a preset standard, while the other half (within the same IQ range) are exposed to the same material but do not have to achieve the preset standard. What happens to the correlation between IQ and surprise delayedretention test scores?
A dissertation study on this very premise was completed recently, under the senior author’s direction, by Marianne Baker (1999).... for original learning, a short story was read aloud to fourth and fifth graders individually, immediately followed by a free-recall test on specific items of information as well as comprehension of ideas in the story. For the mastery group, this process was repeated until each student scored between 75% and 90% correct. The nonmastery group heard the story once and did the free-recall test. A week later, both groups were surprised with a written test of memory for the same items. Then students relearned under their respective conditions and finally were tested for retention again after 14 days and 28 days.
Table 1.2 shows the remarkable results regarding intellectual traits and memory.5 Under nonmastery conditions—that is, a single exposure for original learning, recall after 7 days, a single relearning opportunity, and then recall after 14 and 28 days—the correlations between intellectual traits and recall are all positive and significant. That is, higher-ability students tend to remember more, as society has come to expect.
In stark contrast, imposing a mastery standard of 75% to 90% correct on original learning and then again at relearning renders those standardized intellectual measures nonpredictors of how much is recalled: The correlations hover around zero and are all nonsignificant.
What mastery to a high standard can do, in summary, is virtually bypass the effects of IQ for specified educational objectives. What is recalled about educational lessons is more dependent on how well the material is mastered than on such traits as rate of learning or general intellectual abilities.

I believe it.

I'll have more later. The preface and first chapter (pdf file)) are available online.

I'm ordering the book.

in a nutshell

learning occurs in phases or episodes

all initial learning results in forgetting

learning to high mastery means immediate recall of 80% to 100%

learning to "low" mastery means immediate recall of 60 to 80%

below 60% you haven't learned; when you encounter the material again you'll be starting over again [ed.: hoo boy. we're looking at a big, honking Phase 4 math reteach-fest this summer.] [UPDATE 12-6-06: Actually, we're not. C. is now much faster at learning math; he's managing to absorb and, I think, hang onto some of the content in Phase 4 Grade 7.]

IQ is moderately correlated with memory

high-IQ allows one to recall more after one exposure: "higher-ability students tend to remember more, as society has come to expect"

high mastery to a standard of 75% to 90% on original learning plus one relearning erases the correlation between IQ and memory

"What mastery to a high standard can do, in summary, is virtually bypass the effects of IQ for specified educational objectives."

MORE COMING ANON

-- CatherineJohnson - 24 Jun 2006

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masterylearning

-- CatherineJohnson - 26 Jun 2006

WebLogForm
Title:	mastery learning and IQ
TopicType:	WebLog
SubjectArea:	CognitiveScience, DirectInstruction, EducationResearch, IrvingtonMath, IrvingtonSchools, SaxonMath
LogDate:	200606232012

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mastery learning and IQ

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