Open thread, Nov. 10 - Nov. 16, 2014

MrMind

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If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.

Notes for future OT posters:

1. Please add the 'open_thread' tag.

2. Check if there is an active Open Thread before posting a new one. (Immediately before; refresh the list-of-threads page before posting.)

3. Open Threads should be posted in Discussion, and not Main.

4. Open Threads should start on Monday, and end on Sunday.

I think the phrase in the education literature is mastery learning: my exposure to it was discussion of how Khan Academy does math tests. Because they're on a computer-based system, they can generate an arbitrary number of problems of a particular form (like, for example, 'multiply two three digit numbers together') and give each student as many problems as it takes for them to get 10 right in a row. Sometimes the student gets the lesson and only does 10 questions; sometimes the student takes 200 tries to get 10 right in a row, but they always master the skill before they move on (or they spend a lot of time getting very lucky).