Evidence of Effectiveness of Mastery Tasks in Introductory Physics Courses

Authors

  • Geoffrey Lee-Dadswell Cape Breton University
  • Fraser Turner Cape Breton University

Abstract

We briefly describe a one-on-one, iterative, formative assessment technique which we call
"mastery tasks". We examine the effect that completion of a mastery task has on student
performance on exam and assignment questions in introductory physics courses. Data
collected across five courses show that mastery tasks have a strong effect on student
performance on midterm exams and assignments (p < 0.0001), but that the effect is much less
significant on final exam performance.

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Published

2026-06-10

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Section

Articles