I'm here today to talk about the two ideas that, at least based on my observations at Khan Academy, are kind of the core, or the key leverage points for learning. And it's the idea of mastery and the idea of mindset.
我今天呢度講兩個概念 根據我喺可汗學院嘅觀察 兩個概念對學習好重要 一,熟練,真正咁掌握概念 二,心態
I saw this in the early days working with my cousins. A lot of them were having trouble with math at first, because they had all of these gaps accumulated in their learning. And because of that, at some point they got to an algebra class and they might have been a little bit shaky on some of the pre-algebra, and because of that, they thought they didn't have the math gene. Or they'd get to a calculus class, and they'd be a little bit shaky on the algebra. I saw it in the early days when I was uploading some of those videos on YouTube, and I realized that people who were not my cousins were watching.
我同表弟妹補習時,就留意到 佢哋嘅數學好差 因為累積咗好多知識嘅缺口 帶著啲缺口,佢哋去學代數 喺預代數就危危乎嘞 所以,佢哋認為自己冇天份 或者佢哋修微積分時 代數嗰部分又唔掂 最初我上載啲視頻到 YouTube 嗰時 我已經見過呢種情況,發現 睇我視頻嘅人都唔係我親戚
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
And at first, those comments were just simple thank-yous. I thought that was a pretty big deal. I don't know how much time you all spend on YouTube. Most of the comments are not "Thank you."
最先,啲人嘅留言只係「唔該」 我已經好滿足 唔知你哋係咪經常睇 YouTube 大部分嘅留言都唔係「多謝」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
They're a little edgier than that. But then the comments got a little more intense, student after student saying that they had grown up not liking math. It was getting difficult as they got into more advanced math topics. By the time they got to algebra, they had so many gaps in their knowledge they couldn't engage with it. They thought they didn't have the math gene. But when they were a bit older, they took a little agency and decided to engage. They found resources like Khan Academy and they were able to fill in those gaps and master those concepts, and that reinforced their mindset that it wasn't fixed; that they actually were capable of learning mathematics.
佢哋都更加尖銳小小 之後嘅留言變得好熱烈 好多人話,佢哋細個時都唔鍾意數學 越學上去就越辛苦 到咗代數時 佢哋嘅知識缺口多到心淡 佢哋堅信自己冇數學天份 佢哋年紀大啲時 決定再試一次 於是搵到類似可汗學院嘅資源 補番啲知識缺口,真正掌握咗啲概念 開始改變心態 同相信佢哋可以學好數學
And in a lot of ways, this is how you would master a lot of things in life. It's the way you would learn a martial art. In a martial art, you would practice the white belt skills as long as necessary, and only when you've mastered it you would move on to become a yellow belt. It's the way you learn a musical instrument: you practice the basic piece over and over again, and only when you've mastered it, you go on to the more advanced one.
其實,你學好多嘢嘅過程都係咁 比如,學武術 你先要練白帶水平嘅技術 一直練,一直練,冇時間限制 真係熟練曬 先可以升黃帶 比如,學樂器 先將基本樂曲反覆練 練到精通 先至可以學更難嘅曲目
But what we point out -- this is not the way a traditional academic model is structured, the type of academic model that most of us grew up in. In a traditional academic model, we group students together, usually by age, and around middle school, by age and perceived ability, and we shepherd them all together at the same pace. And what typically happens, let's say we're in a middle school pre-algebra class, and the current unit is on exponents, the teacher will give a lecture on exponents, then we'll go home, do some homework. The next morning, we'll review the homework, then another lecture, homework, lecture, homework. That will continue for about two or three weeks, and then we get a test. On that test, maybe I get a 75 percent, maybe you get a 90 percent, maybe you get a 95 percent. And even though the test identified gaps in our knowledge, I didn't know 25 percent of the material. Even the A student, what was the five percent they didn't know?
但係,呢個唔係 傳統教育嘅模式 我哋身在其中嘅系統 傳統教育模式 將學生按年齡分組 到咗中學 就按年齡同能力分 用一樣嘅進度教所有人 最典型嘅情況係 例如,一個中學嘅預代數課 呢個單元教指數 教師上課,講解指數 然後學生返屋企,做功課 第朝,覆檢功課 然後老師再講課,功課、講課、功課 持續兩三個星期之後 考試 我可能攞到 75 分 你可能攞 90 分 又或者 95 分 啲成績顯示,我哋有知識缺口 我有百分之廿五冇學到 即使係甲等生,仲有百分之五冇學到
Even though we've identified the gaps, the whole class will then move on to the next subject, probably a more advanced subject that's going to build on those gaps. It might be logarithms or negative exponents. And that process continues, and you immediately start to realize how strange this is. I didn't know 25 percent of the more foundational thing, and now I'm being pushed to the more advanced thing. And this will continue for months, years, all the way until at some point, I might be in an algebra class or trigonometry class and I hit a wall. And it's not because algebra is fundamentally difficult or because the student isn't bright. It's because I'm seeing an equation and they're dealing with exponents and that 30 percent that I didn't know is showing up. And then I start to disengage.
我哋搵到啲知識缺口,但係 成班人就轉去下一個課題,甚至 可能係以知識缺口為基礎嘅課題 比如,對數或者負指數 你有冇覺得呢個過程 好奇怪 我有百分之廿五冇學到 就要去學更深更難嘅嘢 如此重複,直到有一日 我學代數或者三角幾何時 就撞曬牆 唔係因為代數本身好難 或者學生蠢 而係因為一個關於指數嘅算式 係喺我冇學識嘅百分之三十裡邊 然後我就好灰心,想放棄
To appreciate how absurd that is, imagine if we did other things in our life that way. Say, home-building.
好荒誕,如果 我哋用同樣方法做其他嘢,會點 例如話,起屋
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
So we bring in the contractor and say, "We were told we have two weeks to build a foundation. Do what you can."
我們講畀個承建商知: 「限兩個星期起個地基, 你盡力而為喇。」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
So they do what they can. Maybe it rains. Maybe some of the supplies don't show up. And two weeks later, the inspector comes, looks around, says, "OK, the concrete is still wet right over there, that part's not quite up to code ... I'll give it an 80 percent."
佢哋就盡力而為 落雨要停工 有啲材料根本冇到 兩星期後,工程監督嚟視察 話:「好,啲混凝土仲係濕嘅, 嗰部分唔係好達標⋯⋯ 我俾你 80 分。」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
You say, "Great! That's a C. Let's build the first floor."
你就話:「掂!攞咗個丙。開始起一樓。」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Same thing. We have two weeks, do what you can, inspector shows up, it's a 75 percent. Great, that's a D-plus. Second floor, third floor, and all of a sudden, while you're building the third floor, the whole structure collapses. And if your reaction is the reaction you typically have in education, or that a lot of folks have, you might say, maybe we had a bad contractor, or maybe we needed better inspection or more frequent inspection. But what was really broken was the process. We were artificially constraining how long we had to something, pretty much ensuring a variable outcome, and we took the trouble of inspecting and identifying those gaps, but then we built right on top of it.
同樣情況 我哋有兩個星期,盡力而為 考試得 75 分 太好喇!攞咗個丁 起二樓、三樓咯 起到三樓時 成間屋就冧咗 如果你嘅反應同你對教育係一樣 同好多人嘅反應一樣 你可能話,衰人承建商 或者監督唔夠嚴格,唔夠頻繁 但係真正唔掟嘅係個過程 人為咁限制學嘢嘅時間 幾乎可以確保,結果有落差 我們有做檢查,亦發現咗問題 但係又喺啲問題上繼續起屋
So the idea of mastery learning is to do the exact opposite. Instead of artificially constraining, fixing when and how long you work on something, pretty much ensuring that variable outcome, the A, B, C, D, F -- do it the other way around. What's variable is when and how long a student actually has to work on something, and what's fixed is that they actually master the material.
熟練式教育係完全相反 將人為嘅限制、制度嘅僵化 幾時學,學幾耐,確保學生 有唔同嘅成績:A、B、C、D、F 嘅制度 完全反轉 變數係學生 幾時學同學幾耐 要真正掌握咗啲概念,先去下一個課題
And it's important to realize that not only will this make the student learn their exponents better, but it'll reinforce the right mindset muscles. It makes them realize that if you got 20 percent wrong on something, it doesn't mean that you have a C branded in your DNA somehow. It means that you should just keep working on it. You should have grit; you should have perseverance; you should take agency over your learning.
最緊要嘅係 咁樣不但幫助學生學嘢 仲會培養正確嘅心態 即係,你考試做錯百分之二十 你唔係個差生或者好蠢 你只不過需要繼續改進 你要有毅力, 有恆心 要主動去學嘢
Now, a lot of skeptics might say, well, hey, this is all great, philosophically, this whole idea of mastery-based learning and its connection to mindset, students taking agency over their learning. It makes a lot of sense, but it seems impractical. To actually do it, every student would be on their own track. It would have to be personalized, you'd have to have private tutors and worksheets for every student. And these aren't new ideas -- there were experiments in Winnetka, Illinois, 100 years ago, where they did mastery-based learning and saw great results, but they said it wouldn't scale because it was logistically difficult. The teacher had to give different worksheets to every student, give on-demand assessments.
質疑嘅人會話 熟練式教育 堅持改進嘅心態 學生學習嘅主動性 聽起來幾好, 但係冇辦法實施 各個學生嘅進度唔同 仲要有自己嘅補習老師 同題庫,咁點得呢 呢個其實唔係新方法 一百年前,喺伊利諾伊州嘅 Winnetka 就有熟練式教育嘅試驗, 效果好好 但係啲人話,冇可能大型推廣 老師要畀唔同嘅學生唔同嘅題 連啲考試都係度身訂造
But now today, it's no longer impractical. We have the tools to do it. Students see an explanation at their own time and pace? There's on-demand video for that. They need practice? They need feedback? There's adaptive exercises readily available for students.
宜家,呢個方法係可行嘎 我哋有工具同條件 學生要適合自己進度嘅講課? 我哋有按需服務嘅視頻 佢哋需要訓練?反饋? 有根據學生需要做調整嘅題庫
And when that happens, all sorts of neat things happen. One, the students can actually master the concepts, but they're also building their growth mindset, they're building grit, perseverance, they're taking agency over their learning. And all sorts of beautiful things can start to happen in the actual classroom. Instead of it being focused on the lecture, students can interact with each other. They can get deeper mastery over the material. They can go into simulations, Socratic dialogue.
有咗咁多工具,好多好有趣嘅事會發生 一,學生真正掌握到啲概念 仲建立咗不斷改進嘅心態 培養咗毅力同恆心 佢哋更加主動咁學嘢 各種奇妙嘅嘢 喺個課室度發生 啲學生唔使睇著個黑板 佢哋可以互動 可以更深咁掌握啲概念 可以用模擬、蘇格拉底式對話學習
To appreciate what we're talking about and the tragedy of lost potential here, I'd like to give a little bit of a thought experiment. If we were to go 400 years into the past to Western Europe, which even then, was one of the more literate parts of the planet, you would see that about 15 percent of the population knew how to read. And I suspect that if you asked someone who did know how to read, say a member of the clergy, "What percentage of the population do you think is even capable of reading?" They might say, "Well, with a great education system, maybe 20 or 30 percent." But if you fast forward to today, we know that that prediction would have been wildly pessimistic, that pretty close to 100 percent of the population is capable of reading. But if I were to ask you a similar question: "What percentage of the population do you think is capable of truly mastering calculus, or understanding organic chemistry, or being able to contribute to cancer research?" A lot of you might say, "Well, with a great education system, maybe 20, 30 percent."
來體會一下 潛力嘅流失係幾可悲 我哋來想像下 400 年前嘅西歐 係全世界最有文化嘅地區 大概百分之十五嘅人識字 如果你問個識字嘅人 比如神職人員 「可以學識閱讀嘅人口比例係幾多?」 佢哋會話:「呃,如果有個優良嘅 教育系統,百分之 20 到 30。」 睇下當下 呢個預測真係太悲觀 近乎全部人可以學識閱讀 如果我問你: 「可以真正 學識微積分, 或者有機化學,或者參加癌症研究 嘅人口比例係幾多?」 好多人會話:「呃,如果有個優良嘅 教育系統,百分之 20 到 30。」
But what if that estimate is just based on your own experience in a non-mastery framework, your own experience with yourself or observing your peers, where you're being pushed at this set pace through classes, accumulating all these gaps? Even when you got that 95 percent, what was that five percent you missed? And it keeps accumulating -- you get to an advanced class, all of a sudden you hit a wall and say, "I'm not meant to be a cancer researcher; not meant to be a physicist; not meant to be a mathematician." I suspect that that actually is the case, but if you were allowed to be operating in a mastery framework, if you were allowed to really take agency over your learning, and when you get something wrong, embrace it -- view that failure as a moment of learning -- that number, the percent that could really master calculus or understand organic chemistry, is actually a lot closer to 100 percent.
呢個預測係基於 非熟練式教育嘅框架 你嘅個人經驗,或對身邊人嘅觀察 基於人人同步嘅 充滿知識缺口嘅傳統式教育 你考試嘅分數係 95 咁你仲係冇學到百分之五 啲知識缺口日積月累 你然後喺高等課度撞牆, 就講: 「我唔係做癌症研究者 物理學家,數學家嘅料。」 我諗真係就係咁 如果你啟用熟練式教育 如果你有機會主動學習 咁你有錯時 你睇佢成一個學習嘅機會, 唔係失敗 真係將微積分 有機化學 學到百分百
And this isn't even just a "nice to have." I think it's a social imperative. We're exiting what you could call the industrial age and we're going into this information revolution. And it's clear that some things are happening. In the industrial age, society was a pyramid. At the base of the pyramid, you needed human labor. In the middle of the pyramid, you had an information processing, a bureaucracy class, and at the top of the pyramid, you had your owners of capital and your entrepreneurs and your creative class. But we know what's happening already, as we go into this information revolution. The bottom of that pyramid, automation, is going to take over. Even that middle tier, information processing, that's what computers are good at.
呢個唔係奢侈品 呢個係必須嘅 我哋已經離開工業時代 我哋已經喺信息時代 有好多嘢係度變 工業時代嘅社會係個金字塔 體力勞工喺最底 中間係處理信息嘅 官僚階級 最頂嘅係資本家 創業者 同有創意嘅群體 宜家 喺信息時代 自動工會代替金字塔嘅底層 中間處理信息嗰層 電腦做最啱
So as a society, we have a question: All this new productivity is happening because of this technology, but who participates in it? Is it just going to be that very top of the pyramid, in which case, what does everyone else do? How do they operate? Or do we do something that's more aspirational? Do we actually attempt to invert the pyramid, where you have a large creative class, where almost everyone can participate as an entrepreneur, an artist, as a researcher?
於是乎,我哋有個問題: 有咁多新興嘅生產力 邊個會參與? 係唔係哋只有金字塔嘅頂端 咁其他人點辦? 佢哋點操作? 係咪做啲更有志向嘅嘢? 我哋不如試下將個金字塔調轉 有個大群體可以人人創業 創作藝術,做科學研究 嘅創意群體?
And I don't think that this is utopian. I really think that this is all based on the idea that if we let people tap into their potential by mastering concepts, by being able to exercise agency over their learning, that they can get there. And when you think of it as just a citizen of the world, it's pretty exciting. I mean, think about the type of equity we can we have, and the rate at which civilization could even progress. And so, I'm pretty optimistic about it. I think it's going to be a pretty exciting time to be alive.
我認為呢個唔係烏托邦 我堅信佢基於一個諗法,就係 如果我哋喲用熟練式教育 發掘人嘅潛力 幫佢哋爭取學習同自主嘅權利 佢哋會成功 從一個世界公民嘅角度來睇 真係好令人興奮 諗下我哋可以達到嘅平等 文明會點樣進步 我好樂觀嘎 我覺得我哋生喺一個好刺激嘅時代
Thank you.
多謝
(Applause)
(掌聲)