The Effects of a Mastery Learning Strategy on Knowledge Acquisition Among Aboriginal Students: An Experimental Approach

Research indicates that low academic achievement amongst Aboriginal (Orang Asli) students is due to the current practices of teaching and learning in the classrooms. Additionally, the diversity of students for this community leads to different cognitive abilities and cultures, which contributing to major issues of teaching and learning effectiveness. As a part of special education community, there is a need for a review of teaching and learning strategies for Aboriginal students in the context of an entrepreneurship education. This paper addresses low academic achievement amongst Aboriginal students using mastery learning strategy (MLS) and investigates its effectiveness in the entrepreneurship education course. An experimental, pre-test and post-test, with control group design was implemented on 80 Aboriginal students from two department of Orang Asli Development Training Center in Malaysia. Students in the experimental groups were treated using MLS throughout 12 weeks. Students’ knowledge acquisition (achievement) was tested using multiple choices question, and the results were compared to the traditional learning approach (TLA) group. The findings indicated that the MLS was more effective than TLA in enhancing students’ knowledge acquisition. The implication is that the model used in this study is appropriate for teaching, promoting learning, and conducting research among Orang Asli students