
Ask HN: Which learning style is better? Mastery Learning or Spiral approach? - mathnmusic
Mastery Learning ( https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Mastery_learning ) says that students must achieve a level of mastery (e.g., 90% on a knowledge test) in prerequisite knowledge before moving forward to learn subsequent information. This idea came from Benjamin Bloom and is the philosophy adopted by Khan Academy and others.<p>The Spiral Approach ( https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.av8n.com&#x2F;physics&#x2F;spiral-approach.htm ) argues that the axiomatic approach is a bad idea. one should plan on revisiting the prerequisites and refining them.<p>What&#x27;s the research consensus about the efficacy of these two styles?<p>Context: We want to design the skills graph of LearnAwesome so that it leads to the most effective learning path for any topic. More about the project: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;learn-awesome&#x2F;learn-awesome
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tenpaiyomi
Third (personal, non-research) opinion based on general observation among
myself and peers. Neither approach is a be all end all, some people learn
better on one approach versus another, even among different skills.

Personally, when I am approaching something that is a "book learning" type of
skill (Mathematics, Science, etc.), Mastery Learning is more efficient for me.
When I am learning something that is a "hands on" type of skill (another
programming language, metal working, welding, etc.), Spiral Approach is more
efficient for me.

