Provides an overview of alternatives to whole-class instruction which incorporate limited individualization. Discusses the purpose and process of using tiered activities, learning outcomes/mastery learning, learning centers, cooperative learning, computer-assisted learning, and self-directed learning (including negotiated contracts, journals,…

Describes mastery learning, a teaching model that allows full inclusion of rural students with intense educational needs. The approach is based on curriculum modifications, team teaching, peer tutoring, and cooperative learning. Documents the success of mastery learning in the case of a rural first-grade student with Down's Syndrome. (LP)

Contemporary theories of learning postulate one or at most a small number of different learning mechanisms. However, people are capable of mastering a given task through qualitatively different learning paths such as learning by instruction and learning by doing. We hypothesize that the knowledge acquired through such alternative paths differs…

A commonly accepted assumption in music education based on the apprenticeship tradition is that teachers deliver their musical expertise using pedagogically relevant methods that will help them to have effective mastery and control over the process of learning. This article decentres the traditional notion of mastery and pedagogy. Rather, it is…

This manual presents activities designed to encourage speaking in elementary and secondary school French language classes at the novice and intermediate proficiency levels. Following guidelines outlined in the Utah "Foreign Language Mastery Curriculum Guide," each of the activities is identified according to the topic, level, and…

A laboratory approach to instruction is employed in the basic speech communication course at a southern university. Approximately one-third of the semester is spent on public speaking and performance assignments, while the remainder of the course focuses on interpersonal communication. During the oral performance part of the course, half of the…

The high achievement of students in the Johnson City School District (JCSD) in New York is attributed to three factors: (1) the mode of instruction from elementary through high school is grounded in a common theoretical base--Bloom's work on Mastery Learning and Glasser's work on Reality Therapy; (2) the teachers participate in staff development…

This conference reaction paper tracks some of the common themes that run through five papers presented at the same conference at the session on curricular and instructional issues in compensatory education with special reference to Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981. The reaction paper attempts to interpret the…

Based on the concept that teachers can help students become better learners, mastery learning involves the identification of specific segments of learning and then mastery of them by individual students. Mastery learning provides a structure for teaching that includes class instruction followed by small group work. It is a group-based approach to…

In spring 1981, resources were allocated for the establishment of the Center for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning, which would coordinate strategies to improve methods of instruction and learning in the community colleges of the United States. The emphasis of the Center is on the development of strategies that require relatively small…

Effective curriculum is based on a mastery learning model. According to Carroll's mastery learning model, learning rate is partially a function of student "perseverance" or time on task, which is in turn determined by a learner's entering repertoire and the quality of instruction. Although the mastery-learning model looks simple, its execution is…

This paper describes a field study of the "Personalized System of Instruction" (PSI) as it was used in an undergraduate communications research course. On the basis of statistics from two years of the program's implementation and from student responses after completing the course, the study draws five conclusions. (1) Most students did…

Mastery learning is described as a system for providing a unit-by-unit sequence, and arranging that each unit be successfully mastered by each student before they begin the next unit. This process requires mastery tests to control the rate of student progress. The proper setting of score levels to represent mastery is a difficult task. The claim…

This study explored the effects of a modified mastery learning strategy as well as locus of control and aptitude on achievement, attitudes, and on-task behavior of high school chemistry students (N=156). Mastery learning in this study was modified to limit diagnosis and remediation to two cycles. Three treatment groups were included: (1) contrast…

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of two treatment variables, mastery and aptitude, on two outcome variables, achievement and retention, as measured by researcher-constructed tests. Seventeen classes of seventh-grade geography students were taught an instructor-developed geography unit with either mastery or nonmastery…