Malaysian Online Journal of Instructional Technology (MOJIT) Vol. 3, No.

2, pp 43-49
August 2006
ISSN 1823:1144

Applying Mastery Learning Model In Developing E-Tuition

Science For Primary School Students
Norjihan Abdul Ghani, Norhana Hamim, Noor Irmayanti Ishak
Information Science Department
University of Malaya
50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
norjihan@um.edu.my

Abstract

Learning is one of the most important necessities of the life. In the traditional classroom, every
individual, being a part of a group where the teachers will conduct the class session. The emerging of
the world wide web, people are taking advantaged of using it as a medium of teaching and learning.
In Malaysia, science is one of the core subjects for upper level in primary school. It has been taught
and will be tested during the national Primary School Evaluation Examination (UPSR). There is no
such easy way how to deliver the knowledge to students so they can understand the lesson taught.
This paper describes a development of e-Tuition Science for UPSR students by applying the mastery
learning model. It has been developed in order to help teacher and students in the teaching and
learning process. The main aim is to make sure that students get the knowledge transferred by the
teachers.

INTRODUCTION
The traditional teaching and learning model of science curriculum are emphasised the transmission
of factual data and skills from a teacher to a students. It is based on the concept of scientific
knowledge as a stockable and transferable entity. It is also based on the construct of knowledge as
being “certain” (Drane 2000). This is refers to traditional classroom. Traditional classroom is defined
by face-to-face or traditional classroom describes the most common classroom-type environment.
These terms describe students who regularly attend classes in the traditional classroom environment.
Students may or may not also participate in other types of educational delivery. This environment
can include lectures, discussions, laboratories and others.

The emerging of the new technology called electronic learning, the traditional classroom were
established with online classroom. Online classroom is an online learning that occurs through Web-
based delivery. Online courses provide interaction between the student and the content, the student
and other students, and the student and the instructor using various forms of computer mediated
communication (CMC). Online classroom has been introduced in primary and secondary level of
education system in Malaysia. Malaysian’s educators are taking advantage of World Wide Web to
deliver the information to their students. Today, most online learning courses are no more than
sophisticated correspondence courses, in which lone students in front of computers take in a certain
amount of information transmitted via the internet (Hamada & Scott, 2001). This paper will discuss
in applying the mastery learning model in developing e-Tuition Science for UPSR students.
MOJIT Applying Mastery Learning Model In Developing E-Tuition Science For Primary School Students

SCIENCE FOR PRIMARY STUDENT

Science plays an important role in our life. Science is a core subject in the curriculum for students in
primary and secondary school. In Malaysia’s school, it comprises science for primary, science for
secondary, biology, physics, and chemistry. Science is a compulsory subject for all primary and
secondary students.

In primary school, Science has been taught to all students from standard four to six and it will be
tested during Primary School Evaluation Test (UPSR). The main aim of science for the primary
students it to introduce the foundation for building a society that is culturally scientific and
technological, caring, dynamic and progressive. The content of Science for primary school is focus
on basic areas of Science itself. The basic knowledge of the primary school science subject (standard
four to six) is organized around five areas of study, as shown in Table 1. Emphasis is given on the
mastery of scientific skills needed to study and understand the world. Scientific skills refer to process
skills and manipulative skills (Syarifah, 2003). Previously, the medium of instruction for Science in
Malaysia was Bahasa Malaysia. After recent years, it was changed to English starting from June 2002.

Currently, a lot of students feel that Science is one of the most difficult subjects to learn and
understand. Students hate learning Science. One of the major factors why students don’t like Science
is some of the teachers use a learning method which is out to date. Teachers are used a traditional
method of teaching, giving an information and students received an information. It’s one way
communication. Besides that, using English as a medium of instruction make students feel more
difficult to understand the lesson. They need to know English first before understand the lessons.
Because of this reason, Datuk Ir Lee Yee Cheong, Chairman of International Conference
Committee suggests that:

• teacher need to introduce a new techniques in order to attract students to love learning Science
• teaching method should be parallel with the emerging of science and technology. Teacher
should use a teaching aid which is easy to understand.

From Table 1, we can conclude that the process of learning for each topic is continued from
standard four to five and from standard five to six. Because of the reason, there’s a need to choose a
suitable method of delivery the knowledge from teacher to students. The selected medium of
knowledge transformation should be suitable to apply in the subject.

Table 1: Content of the Primary Science Curriculum (Syarifah, 2003)

Investigating The living The physical The material Earth and the The world of
.. world world world universe technology
Year 4 Variety of life in Understanding Natural and The earth-its Knowing
nature length synthetic shape, size and technology
Features and Understanding materials gravitational Development in
characteristics of area Variety of pull transportation,
animals and Understanding materials in The earth’s communication,
plants volume nature surface agriculture and
The basic needs How time is Physical The sun-its buildings
of animals and measured properties of shape and size Inventors and
plants Objects have materials and Heat and light their contributors
Life processes in weight its uses from the sun

44
MOJIT Applying Mastery Learning Model In Developing E-Tuition Science For Primary School Students

animals and Properties of The moon-its

plants magnets shape, size and
surface
The earth-
moon distance
Year 5 How animals Electric current Solid, liquid, Natural Strength and
and plants in a complete and gas phenomenon stability of
survive circuit How on Earth structures
The food chain Sources of materials Night and day Designing a
The food web electrical energy behave when Moon phases structure
Electrical energy heated and The beauty of
transformations cooled the night
Heat energy and Clouds and
its effects rain
Understanding Chemical
temperature properties of
Properties of materials
lights Rust
Light can travel Preventing
through some rust The need
materials to prevent
Sound rust
Year 6 Competition-a The effects of Preserving Solar and Lunar Simple machines
form of forces food eclipse and their
interaction Moving objects Waste The Solar functions
between living disposal and System Designing tools
things its effects on Constellations and devices
Man’s role the The grandness Appreciating
towards living environment of the universe technology
things Recycling
How man waste
differs from materials
other life forms Why recycle?

MASTERY LEARNING
The mastery learning model states that most children can achieve a high degree of learning if two
conditions are met (Dale, et. al, 1982). First, each learner must be given sufficient time to master
every learning steps in instructional sequence. Second, children must be given remedial help
whenever a step is not mastered. The mastery learning model, it is aimed at providing appropriate
learning environments by considering the individual differences of the students so that they do not
hinder the target learning activity. During the 1960's Bloom's (1968), learning for mastery focused
new attention on the philosophy of mastery learning. Bloom (1968) is now generally recognized as
the classic theoretical formulation on the mastery model. According to Bloom, the mastery learning
theory is based on the idea that Cognitive Introduction Behaviors (i.e. pre-learning which is assumed
to be necessary for learning a unit) which are the students’ characteristics, Emotional Introduction
Features (the level of motivation to learn the unit) and the quality of teaching activity are the basic
indicators of learning output. The variables “clue, reinforcement, student’s participation, feedback
and correction”, which Bloom described as the quality of teaching activity, explain the activities
which are prepared by the teacher to enable mastery learning. The variables of mastery learning are
shown in Figure 1.

45
MOJIT Applying Mastery Learning Model In Developing E-Tuition Science For Primary School Students

Cognitive Entry
Behaviour
Learning Outcomes
(Level and Type of
Student Learning
Achievement, rate of
Learning, Affective
Affective Entry Outcomes
Characteristics

Quality of
Instruction

Figure 1: The Variables of Mastery Learning (Wong, 2002)

Mastery learning is an instructional strategy based on the principle that all students can learn a set of
reasonable objectives with appropriate instruction and sufficient time to learn. Mastery Learning
puts the techniques of tutoring and individualized instruction into a group learning situation and
brings the learning strategies of successful students to nearly all the students of a given group. In its
full form it includes a philosophy, curriculum structure, instructional model, the alignment of
student assessment, and a teaching approach.

There are three aspects how mastery learning can affect education (Cohen, et. al., 2002:
• Curriculum : mastery learning doesn’t focus on content, but on the process of mastering it.
This type of learning works best with the traditional content-focused curriculum, one based
on well-defined learning objectives organized into smaller, sequentially organized units.
• Instruction : this strategy captures many of the elements of successful tutoring and the
independent functionality seen in high-end students. In a mastery learning environment,
the teacher also provides direct a variety of group-based instructional techniques. The
teacher also provides frequent and specific feedback by using diagnostic, formative tests, as
well as regularly correcting mistakes students make along their learning path.
• Assessment : teachers evaluate students with criterion-referenced tests rather than norm-
referenced tests. Mastery learning ensures numerous feedback loops, based on small units
of well-defined, appropriately sequenced outcomes.

E-TUITION SCIENCE FOR UPSR WEBSITE

This website is designed for standard four to six students at the primary school. It was developed
with a combination of two parts:

• covers all the contents of Science for Standard four to six as explained in Table 1
• apply the mastery learning model in the content development.

The main focus of this development is to provide students with a helpful website in order to replace
a traditional tuition available today. Specifically, the website contains four main elements which are
Notes, Exercises and Quizzes, and Glossary. See Table 2.

46
MOJIT Applying Mastery Learning Model In Developing E-Tuition Science For Primary School Students

Table 2 : Three elements in the e-Tuition Science’s Website

Element Description
Notes Covers all notes based on the content of the primary school
science curriculum. It was organized based on year and topic. For
each of the topic, there is also a video to show an experiment.
Each topic begins with the explaining the objectives and learning
outcomes for the topic. All the notes are strictly covers the
Kurikulum Bersepadu Sekolah Rendah (KBSR).
Exercises and Quizzes At the end of the chapter, students are allowed to do an exercise.
A number of questions are randomly picked from a database.
After answering the questions, students will automatically know
whether it’s correct or wrong. There are 3 types of questions for
each topic : multiple choice questions, short answer questions, and
true-false questions.
For the quizzes, students are given a set of questions and need to
answer each of the questions in a given time. At the end of the
quiz session, the marks will appear. So, the students can know and
measure their knowledge. The questions provided range from
various types based on Bloom taxonomy.
Glossary The website provides a list of glossary. The purpose of the
glossary is to help students to know all the terms available in the
Science world. For the selected terms, there is also provides a
picture or video to explain the terms.

The learning session for each of the topic will start by the instructor will explain the objectives of
the topic, then it will starts with the explaining the material using the online website. Once they
finish exploring the lesson, they can go back to the previous one if they don’t fully understand. The
instructor will guide students in their way of learning. At the end of the session, after students
understand with the lessons, then instructor will finish it up with the learning outcomes or summary
for the topic. Overall, the mastery learning model has been applied in the website by the following
steps:

• clearly state the objectives representing the purposes of the course.

• the curriculum is divided into relatively small learning units, each with their own objectives
and assessment.
• learning materials and instructional strategies are identified; teaching, modeling, practice,
formative evaluation, re-teaching, reinforcement, and summative evaluation are included.
• each unit is preceded by brief diagnostic tests, or formative assessments
• the results of formative tests are used to provide supplementary instruction, or corrective
activities to help the learner overcome problems.

The e-Tuition Science for UPSR website covers the entire three main components in the mastery
learning model which are :
• curriculum : when the learning session starts, teacher will explain the objectives should be
gained by the students for the lesson. Then, after explaining the theory for the topic,

47
MOJIT Applying Mastery Learning Model In Developing E-Tuition Science For Primary School Students

teacher will guide student in understanding the process of learning. The teacher will assist
and help students until they fully understand.
• instruction : teacher will guide a students based on the instruction provided by the website.
It will help student to understand more. Teacher can ask the questions directly to the
students to make sure that they fully understand and they don’t’ keep out their mind.
Teacher also can perform formative assessment.
• Assessment : once completion the lesson, there is an exercises and quizzes available for
students. For students, they can know their level of understanding for that lesson
immediately after the lesson finished.

CONCLUSIONS

The development of e-Tuition Science for UPSR is more on helping students in their learning and
doing revision. Students can enhance their knowledge understanding anytime, anywhere and
anyplace they want as long as there is an internet connection. The contents of the website also
follow the syllabus for Science subject from standard four to six. Using online learning will make the
teaching and learning session more attractive and effective. This e-Tuition Science for UPSR website
can be a new method of delivering lessons to students instead of using traditional method. It became
a new aid for teaching and learning Science. By applying the mastery learning model, it may help
students to understand and know more about what they are going to learn. From this research, we
can conclude that the combination of online learning in Science and mastery learning will help those
people involved the learning session. At the end, it may achieve the objective of introducing the
Science for primary school’s students.

REFERENCES

Drane, C. 2000. Certain Knowledge and the Conventional University.

http://members.tripod.com/vstevens/papyrus/00mar03c.htm

Hamada, T. & Scott, K. (2001). Anthropology and Internet Education via the Internet : A
Collaborative Learning Model, The Journal of Electronic Publishing 6(1)

Syarifah, S. Z. (2003). Reforming the Science and Technology Curriculum : The Smart
School Initiative in Malaysia, Prospects, vol. XXXIII(1).

Dale, N. B., et. Al. (1982). Applying the Mastery Learning Model to Sight Word
Instruction for Disabled Readers. Journal of Experimental Education, Vol. 50.
Bloom, B. (1968). Learning for Mastery. Evaluation Comment,1(2), 1-5.

Wong, K. (2002). A Basic Introduction to Mastery Learning. The Newsletter Learning

and Teaching Support. 2(3).

Cohen, et. al., (2002). Mastery Learning. http://www.funderstanding.com/

mastery_learning.cfm

48