| There are two main learning approaches that are | | | | remember back in the fifth and sixth grades |
| typically used in public and private schools: Mastery | | | | spending some time on the human body and |
| Learning and Spiral Learning. From what I have | | | | weather, but my teachers did not use a standard |
| seen, Spiral Learning is the most common | | | | science textbook for those units. Instead, they |
| approach to learning, yet research has shown | | | | pulled from a variety of different sources to |
| Mastery Learning to be one of the most | | | | provide an in depth study on the topic, which is |
| effective methods. Children who are struggling | | | | why I remember doing those units to this day. |
| benefit the most from a Mastery Learning | | | | My purpose in this article is not to say that you |
| approach to a subject. | | | | should always use a Mastery Learning approach |
| You may be asking yourself, "What is Mastery | | | | with your children to the exclusion of Spiral |
| Learning?" The simplest definition of Mastery | | | | Learning. Instead, I want to encourage you to use |
| Learning is when a child achieves the | | | | Mastery Learning with your children in the |
| understanding and the ability to do certain skills in | | | | subjects that build upon each other (i.e. math). For |
| a subject area, moving ahead only after showing | | | | example, if you were to go to a surgeon for an |
| a high competency level in those skills. During the | | | | operation, you want a surgeon who has |
| process, a child is always provided with feedback | | | | specialized and knows the ins and outs of |
| so that he can know what areas to focus on. At | | | | everything related to that surgery (Mastery |
| each skill level a test is usually given, and a | | | | Learning). If you have a nagging pain on your arm, |
| student has to show 80% or better mastery to | | | | you're going to go to your Internist and will want |
| move on. Otherwise, he will have to continue | | | | him to make a diagnosis based on his general |
| studying the material in preparation for retaking | | | | knowledge of many different body systems |
| the test until he scores above an 80%. | | | | (more of a Spiral Learning approach). |
| How does Mastery Learning differ from the usual | | | | Some children can learn well with either the spiral |
| method? Most schools use a method called Spiral | | | | or mastery approach, but with the mastery |
| Learning where small amounts of different topics | | | | approach they will learn quicker. Other children |
| are repeated in a yearly cyclical fashion with a | | | | struggle, and with them the mastery approach is |
| gradual increase in information as a child gets | | | | necessary in order to achieve success. The |
| older. Remember back to your elementary school | | | | repeated focus on a skill until it is mastered is |
| days, when science textbooks would spiral | | | | what struggling students need. |
| through a whirlwind of different subjects? I | | | | |