| Summary: | The aim of this study was to determine the influence of
mastery learning in small group situations on the learning
achievements of culturally deprived children.
Two metl1ods of enquiry were used in this study. Firstly,
a study of the literature was made and special attention
was given to cultural deprivation, learning achievement,
cognitive development and the influence of the school on
the learning achievement and cognitive development of
culturally deprived children. Teaching in the small group
situation proved to have definite advantages over teaching
in the ordinary large group situation. The cognitive and
affective outcom8s of teaching in small groups are very
important as far as culturally deprived children are concerned,
and was therefore given special attention in the
literature study. The influence of the mastery learning
strategy, based on the views and theories of Carroll and
mainly Bloom, on learning achievement is a very important component
in this study.
Secondly the empirical method was used to test the validity
of the hypotheses which was formulated in concurrence with
the literature.
In the context of this study culturally deprived children
are those children who have the abilities and potential to
fit in and perform well in the school situation but who
are handicapped by their living and family environments.
They are not able to achieve what is expected of them in the
normal school situation.
The cognitive development and learning achievement of culturally
deprived children are influenced by various factors.
These include:
* Their living environment. The houses are usually ill
equipped, small and inadequate to accommodate the usual
large families. The breadwinner usually does semi- or
unskilled labour resulting in a lack of basic requirements.
* A negative self-image and lack of motivation to learn.
Culturally deprived children expose a lack of self-confidence
and believe that they are unable to achieve
success at school. For them the school has not much value,
a view in which they are further stimulated by their parents
and environment. Due to their failures at school
they strive to obtain the minimum academic qualifications.
They leave school as soon as they are allowed by law to
do so and in a large majority of cases they follow in
the footsteps of their parents.
* In the family environment there is no or little stimulation
for the child to learn. The parents, because of
their own inabilities, are themselves not interested in
schooling and school activities. Because of this attitude
they make it more difficult for their children to
adapt themselves to the "unknown" school situation.
* The vocational expectations of these children, like their
academic expectations, are very low. They prefer to do a
job for which very little training is required and are
bound to it because of their limited school experiences.
The parents themselves are satisfied with this situation
and have no high vocational expectations for their children.
* For the culturally deprived child the language used in
normal life and in the school situation is one of the most
limiting factors which influence school achievement. In
practice their main problem is not that they are not able
to do the work but that they are not used to the language
used in the school situation and that they do not understand
what is said in the classroom. When the subject
matter is interpreted for them they usually are able to
do the work satisfactorily.
* Socio-economic status is one of the most important predictors
of academic achievement. Culturally deprived
children usually come from low socio-economic environments
resulting in low personal aspirations towards their
schooling and vocational careers.
The cognitive development of culturally deprived children
are greatly limited by their living and family environment.
They start their school career with a handicap. If their
personal problems are not identified and corrected at an
early stage it is most likely that they will increase progressively
as they progress in school, It is therefore vitally
important that the teachers should adapt their methods of
teaching and their approach towards these children so that
their school experiences can be stimulating, positively, and
result in academic achievement.
Many of the learning problems of culturally deprived children
can be eliminated if the method of teaching is adapted to
the children. The effective interpretation of learning matter,
less verbal teaching and the implementation of the mastery
learning strategy in the classroom can, amongst others,
be of great aid to these children,
A common problem experienced by these children is that they
are not able to communicate properly and work with other
people. When they are educated in small groups they are,
as a member of the group, bound in working with the group
in solving the group problem.
One of the main objectives of the teacher in the classroom
should be to bring about cognitive development as well as
learning achievement. By taking into account the uniqueness
and circumstances of the culturally deprived child and
by adapting his own methods of teaching to this, the teacher
can to a large extent assure that learning does take place.
In the small group situation it should be easier to identify
individual problems, to remedy and to assure learning
achievement.
Cognitive development has a direct influence on the affective
development of the child. Therefore, the aim should
be to help the child to achieve and to stimulate his total
development.
In mastery learning the basic idea is that most students can
learn what the schools have to teach. It is assumed that
if the pupils are allowed enough time and if they receive
the appropriate learning practice they should be able to
learn what they are taught. The volume of work to be learned
is kept constant while the time allowed to learn becomes the
variable. According to the mastery learning strategy the
individual must master every learning element before he
proceeds to the next learning task. It is important that
the teacher should determine what is meant by mastery and
that he should adapt his methods of teaching to suit every
individual, so that everyone can obtain the mastery level.
For culturally deprived children mastery learning has the
following advantages:
(a) It is aimed at the individual and the continuous
achievement of the individual. The subject matter is presented
systematically at a rate which is determined by
every individual personally, while individual problems are
identified and corrected as they occur.
(b) The teaching strategy tan be altered and adjusted
during the presentation of learning matter to suit the
individual needs of the pupils.
(c) The cognitive learning achievement of culturally deprived
children can be improved. Learning achievement leads
to a positive affective attitude, a positive subject-related
and school-related affect and a positive academic self-concept.
Taking the abovementioned factors, which could have an influence
on learning achievement, into account the following
hypotheses were formulated:
(i) There is a difference between the learning achievements
of the mastery learning group compared with the non-mastery
learning group.
(ii) There is a difference between the learning achievements
of the small group compared with the large group.
(iii) There is a relationship between socio-economic status
and school achievement.
(iv) There is a meaningful interaction between socioeconomic
status, group composition and mastery learning
compared with non-mastery learning.
(v) There is a relationship between school achievement
and the following independent variables:
* positive attitude towards the school,
* friends at school,
* living place,
* sickness,
* learning aid by father,
* academic expectations of the father,
* type of living place,
* other relatives in the family,
* own academic aspirations.
(According to the results of the multiple regression analysis
there is a meaningful relationship between the
abovementioned independent variables and school achievement.
These variables were therefore included in this
hypothesis).
To test the validity of these hypotheses experiments involving
the following were conducted:
The standard three pupils of all the Afrikaans primary
schools in the school-board areas of Vereeniging and Vanderbijlpark
formed the population for this study. By means of
randomized cluster sampling two hundred and thirty one pupils
ware chosen from the population. For the purposes of this
study the pupils had to be divided into four groups. Before
the grouping stratification was done according to sex, age
and average marks in mathematics. By means of randomized
stratified sampling the pupils from every stratum ware
placed in the different groups. The final data of two
hundred and one of these pupils were complete and were used
for the purposes of this study.
Different methods were used to teach the subject matter to
the different groups. The methods were:
(i) Mastery learning in the small group situation
(ii) Mastery learning in the large group situation
(iii) Non-mastery learning in the small group situation
(iv) Non-mastery learning in the large group situation.
The pupils in groups 1 and 3, who were taught in the small
group situation, were further subdivided into smaller groups
consisting of five pupils in every group. The grouping of
the pupils into smaller groups was done according to the
same principles as applied to the large groups.
The learning task, ordinary fractions, was also subdivided
into four learning elements. The learning elements were
taught to the four different groups on four consecutive
days by four different teachers. The teachers were rotated
daily and were allocated to the different groups on a randomized
basis. With the presentation of the learning matter
working cards and transparents were used.
The pupils in groups 1 and 2, who were taught in the small
and large group situation according to the mastery learning
method, had to complete diagnostic tests at certain times
and certain stages during the presentation of the learning
matter. The diagnostic tests were used to determine whether
or not the pupils had mastered the specific learning matter.
The pupils in groups 3 and 4 were tested only after completion
on the learning task.
for the purposes of this study different tests were used
to obtain the necessary information. All the tests were
complied by the writer himself, The tests used were:
(i) Diagnostic tests: After completing every learning
element all the pupils in the mastery learning groups were
expected to do a diagnostic test. By means of these tests
it could be determined whether or not the pupils in these
groups had mastered the subject matter. They were allowed
to commence the next learning element only if they had obtained
the mastery level in the previous element.
(ii) Summative test: One week after completion of the
learning task (consisting of four learning elements) all
the pupils had to complete a summative test. The purpose
of this test was to determine the learning achievement of
all the pupils and the results of this test were used as
the dependent variable in the study.
(iii) Questionnaire: A questionnaire was set to get other
important information such as socio-economic status, the
school and vocational expectations of the parents and children,
the family environment, the living environment, age,
sex, etc. All the factors included in the questionnaire
were used as independent variables in this study.
The results of the summative test and the information obtained
from the questionnaire were used to test the various
hypotheses.
In the analysis and elaboration of the data four different
computer programmes were used. Through these programmes
an analysis of the distribution of the data, a variance
analysis, a factor analysis and a multiple regression
analysis were made of the data obtained, Other statistics
required to interpret the data and to test the hypotheses
were also obtained or deduced from these programmes.
The main results and most important findings of this study
were the following:
(1) The influence of mastery learning on learning achievement
The results obtained from the variance analysis proved
that there is a significant difference in the learning
achievement of the mastery learning group compared
with the non-mastery learning group: F(1;198) = 16,3:
p = 0,001. The average percentage of the mastery
learning group was 72,6% and that of the non-mastery
learning group was 63,9%. According to the multiple
regression analysis the independent variable mastery
learning/non-mastery learning declares 2,3% of the
variance in learning achievement if all the other
factors are kept constant. This relationship is significant:
t = 2,43: p = 0,017.
These results lead to the conclusion that when culturally
deprived children are taught according to the mastery
learning strategy they do achieve better than those
children who are taught according to the non-mastery
method. This has in itself the one major advantage
that these children can be helped in the school situation
to achieve, to better themselves, and to rise
above their family- and living environments.
(2) The influence of group composition on learning
achievement
The results obtained From the variance analysis proved
that there is a significant difference in the learning
achievement of the small group compared with the large
group: F(1;198) = 6,06; p = 0,015, In the small group
situation the average percentage of the pupils was 71%
and in the large group situation the average percentage
was 66,5%.
From these results it is clear that when culturally
deprived children are taught in the small group situation
they achieve significantly better than when
they are taught in the large group situation.
(3) The relationship between socio-economic status and
learning achievement
The independent variable socio-economic status declares
0,1% of the variance in learning achievement
if all the other factors are kept constant. This relationship
is not significant: t = 0,72: p = 0,47.
It must therefore be accepted that there is no relationship
between socio-economic status and learning
achievement.
(4) Interaction between socio-economic status, group
composition and method of teaching
A multiple regression analysis was performed upon the
data obtained and the results proved that the interaction
between the abovementioned independent variables
declared no variance in learning achievement if all
other factors are kept constant: t = 0,20: p = 0,84.
It must therefore be accepted that there is no interaction
between socio-economic status, group composition
and method of teaching.
In this study it was further determined that within
the context of cultural deprivation on all socioeconomic
levels the pupils taught according to the
mastery learning method in the small or large group
situations achieved better than those pupils taught
according to the non-mastery learning method in the
small or large group siluation.
(5)
From these results it can be deduced that the academic
aspirations of the child and his living environment has
a significant influence on learning achievement. In
the family and environmental milieu of the child it is
especially the influence of the father and other relatives
living with the family that has a significant effect
on learning achievement. In the school situation
itself it is especially the pupils' school-related
affect and his relation with other people in the school
situation that has an important influence on learning
achievement. In general, it appears that the factors
in the family and environmental milieus of culturally
deprived children have a greater effect on learning
achievement than those factors in the school environment.
The results of this study, as set out in the previous paragraphs
proves that when culturally deprived children are
taught according to the mastery learning method in the small
group situation they do achieve better and consequently
learn more effectively.
As a result of these findings the following proposals were
made:
* Culturally deprived children are at a disadvantage when
they start school and this increases progressively the
longer they stay in school. It is therefore, apparent
that there should be a different approach towards these
children and that they should be helped as far as possible
to overcome their problems as soon as possible.
* The mastery learning strategy should be implemented in the
school subjects of culturally deprived children. The family and Jiving environments of these children differ radically
from the school environment. It can be accepted
that these children are greatly dependent upon the school
and the teachers for cognitive stimulation and schooling.
Cognitive stimulation can be coupled with learning achievement. This is an integral part of the mastery learning
strategy. After completion of a learning element there
is immediate feedback on whether or not the individual
has mastered it while problems can be identified and corrected,
immediately. This can result in the child's
experiencing more successes than failures which in itself
is a further motivating factor for learning,
* Compulsory pre-primary education for all five year olds
should be implemented. Culturally deprived children are
not necessarily only those who come from indigent family
and living environments. Many children from the so-called
richman's environments are also highly deprived.
In these environments very little, if anything is done to
help the child and to prepare him for formal school education.
Instead of wasting another year in this atmosphere
much can be done in the year preceding official schooling
to introduce the child to the world of the school, the
demands of the school and the possibilities which exist.
Effective use of time can be the basis on which a positive
future can be built. === Proefskrif (DEd)--PU vir CHO, 1981
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