Mastery learning in Statics using the STEMSI online learning environment

Statics is the foundation course upon which much of the Civil and Mechanical Engineering curriculum is based. A solid understanding in this course can help to propel students through their engineering studies. In this paper, we investigate the performance of students who took part in a “flipped” mastery based engineering Statics course. Compared to the tradition classroom, where students can pass by achieving an understanding of roughly 60-70% of the course material, the mastery classroom focuses on achieving a full understanding of 100% of the course material. Instead of a distribution of grades, this type of course produces a distribution in the amount of time each student must spend on each topic.