Clinical study of student learning using mastery style versus immediate feedback online activities

This paper is part of a series of studies to improve the efficacy of online physics homework activities by integrating narrated animated solutions with mastery inspired exercises. In a clinical study using first- and second-year university students, the mastery group attempted question sets in four levels, with animated solutions between each attempt, until mastery was achieved on each level. This combined elements of formative assessment, the worked example effect, and mastery learning. The homework group attempted questions with immediate feedback and unlimited tries. The two groups took a similar amount of time to complete the activity. The mastery group significantly outperformed the homework group on a free response post-test that required students to show their work in solving near and far transfer problems.

Figure 1

Box-and-whiskers plot of time spent on each level in minutes. Median values are reported in the black line in the center of each box, and the boxes represent the interquartile range ($\mathrm{IQR}=\mathrm{Q}3\text{−}\mathrm{Q}1$). Whiskers represent the most extreme value, for example, for the top whisker, within $1.5\times \mathrm{IQR}+\mathrm{Q}3$. Outliers are not shown. Groups spent similar amounts of time on each level.

Figure 2

Box plot of the number of submissions per question on each level. Median values are reported in the black line in the center of each box, and the boxes represent the interquartile range ($\mathrm{IQR}=\mathrm{Q}3\text{−}\mathrm{Q}1$). Whiskers represent, for example, for the top whisker, most extreme value within $1.5\times \mathrm{IQR}+\mathrm{Q}3$. Outliers are not shown. The mastery group had fewer median submissions per question for all levels.

Figure 3

Fraction of students with a correct response on their first try for each question. Asterisk indicates question had different formats for the two groups (multiple choice for the mastery and free response for the homework group).

Figure 4

Outset: Mastery group normalized average score HW group average for each question. Points above the line indicate the Mastery group outperformed the HW group. Inset: Normalized total post-test score average for both groups.