How Do Students Develop Mastery?
Individuals are always gaining knowledge about a new subject everyday, but how do we know if they are truly mastering the subject area. As instructors it can be difficult to define the mastery of a subject area for each individual student. For example: many teachers get frustrated when a student comes to their first week of class and they do not understand how to write a paragraph. The instructors instinct is to blame the educators in the grade level prior that they are not teaching these students correctly. In real life these educators are teaching these students the concepts to write a paragraph, but there was a point in time that the student was not making the connection with the material. The student did not retain the information or only understood bits and pieces of the concept. As instructors we need to identify the development of mastery with each student to ensure they understand the concepts being taught.
The Four Stages of Development of Mastery
The research explores the four stages of development of mastery. The first stage is the unconscious incompetence. The unconscious incompetence is when the individual has not developed an understanding of the concept nor have the knowledge to understand what they need to learn. The conscious incompetence is when the individual is trying to gain knowledge and experience on the concept as well as being aware of what they need to learn to become knowledgeable on the concept. The conscious competence is when the individual has experience and knowledge of the concept, but are consistently working at gaining higher knowledge. The unconscious competence is when an individual is competent on the concepts. The unconscious competent individual is able to teach the concept automatically or instinctivally that they no longer need to think about the concept (Ambrose, Bridges, Dipietro, Lovett, Norman, 2010).
Strategies to Help Build Mastery in Your Classroom
Strategy #1 As an instructor you need to continually ask yourself "What would students have to know or know how to do in order to achieve what I am asking of them?" If you continually ask yourself this question then the break down of the steps in the concepts will be better understood by the students.
Strategy #2 Collaborating with colleagues, graduate students, and teaching assistants will help you as the instructor develop ideas on how to break down the concepts. By discussing or reviewing each others notes/research you are able to develop better ideas on how to help each student.
Strategy #3 Enlisting the help of someone outside your discipline is a great strategy to use in the classroom. As an instructor you may ask a fellow colleague in a different discipline to help critique your lesson to make sure students will understand the concept being taught. As an instructor you may also explore educational materials that will help analyse the tasks being taught.
Strategy #4 As an instructor you need to make sure that students' attention are focused on the key aspects of the task. Students can easily focus on the wrong task when working on a project, but by providing a rubric to the students this will help change the focus on the key tasks.
Strategy #5 Diagnosing weak or missing component skills will help to determine the concepts students may be lacking in a subject area. Instructors can provide an assessment or diagnostic exam to help determine the concepts they may be missing.
Strategy #6 Instructors need to provide in class activities or homework for those students who are missing a key concept. Students are able to practice and research the information before jumping into the next task (Ambrose et al., 2010).
Strategy #2 Collaborating with colleagues, graduate students, and teaching assistants will help you as the instructor develop ideas on how to break down the concepts. By discussing or reviewing each others notes/research you are able to develop better ideas on how to help each student.
Strategy #3 Enlisting the help of someone outside your discipline is a great strategy to use in the classroom. As an instructor you may ask a fellow colleague in a different discipline to help critique your lesson to make sure students will understand the concept being taught. As an instructor you may also explore educational materials that will help analyse the tasks being taught.
Strategy #4 As an instructor you need to make sure that students' attention are focused on the key aspects of the task. Students can easily focus on the wrong task when working on a project, but by providing a rubric to the students this will help change the focus on the key tasks.
Strategy #5 Diagnosing weak or missing component skills will help to determine the concepts students may be lacking in a subject area. Instructors can provide an assessment or diagnostic exam to help determine the concepts they may be missing.
Strategy #6 Instructors need to provide in class activities or homework for those students who are missing a key concept. Students are able to practice and research the information before jumping into the next task (Ambrose et al., 2010).
Strategies to Facilitate Transfer
Strategy #1 As an instructor we cannot assume students will be able to link the information we teach them in a concrete manner. Instructors will need to explicitly discuss with students the linkage between the subject matter, which will help facilitate transfer.
Strategy #2 Provide prompts to relevant knowledge by leading students in past discussions that apply to the concept. Students have a hard time applying the knowledge they know to other concepts, but by prompting the students you are able to access the knowledge from the past to create a connection.
Strategy #3 Specify context and ask students to identify relevant skills or knowledge by proving story problems or case studies that will create critical thinking skills. Students need to take the knowledge they have and apply it to everyday concepts or problems to help gain higher thinking skills (Ambrose et al., 2010).
Strategy #2 Provide prompts to relevant knowledge by leading students in past discussions that apply to the concept. Students have a hard time applying the knowledge they know to other concepts, but by prompting the students you are able to access the knowledge from the past to create a connection.
Strategy #3 Specify context and ask students to identify relevant skills or knowledge by proving story problems or case studies that will create critical thinking skills. Students need to take the knowledge they have and apply it to everyday concepts or problems to help gain higher thinking skills (Ambrose et al., 2010).
How Do Students Develop Mastery Flashcards
Individuals will need to identify the vocabulary word that best fits with the definition given on the left hand side of the page. You can always check your answer by clicking on the blue square on the right titled "answer". You may also shuffle or flip the cards to show the vocabulary word instead of the definition.
Personal Experience
As an educator I have experienced the four stages of development of mastery. My first year of teaching I was in the stage 1 of unconscious incompetence, because I thought I was doing a great job, but in actuality I needed to do a lot more work. My second year of teaching I was in the stage 2 of conscious incompetence in that I realized I needed to create better lessons. I also started collaborating and visiting other teachers classrooms while they were teaching to help me gain knowledge through other disciplines. My third and current year, I am in the stage 3 conscious competence, because I am continually trying to better my teaching skills. I am taking college courses as well as attending professional development workshops to become a better teacher. I can't imagine that I will ever be at stage 4, because paperwork and laws are always changing in the world of teaching in Special Education.
Ambrose, S., Bridges M., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M., Norman, M. (2010). How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass