THE ROLE OF MASTERY LEARNING IN AN INTELLIGENT TUTORING SYSTEM: PRINCIPAL STRATIFICATION ON A LATENT VARIABLE

摘要

Students in Algebra I classrooms typically learn at different rates and struggle at different points in the curriculum-a common challenge for math teachers. Cognitive Tutor Algebra I (CTA1), an educational computer program, addresses such student heterogeneity via what they term "mastery learning," where students progress from one section of the curriculum to the next by demonstrating appropriate "mastery" at each stage. However, when students are unable to master a section's skills even after trying many problems, they are automatically promoted to the next section anyway. Does promotion without mastery impair the program's effectiveness?