On Bloom's two sigma problem (2020)
nintil.com
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But also to your question - it's not the quantity of readers that matters. Reaching the right people, for whom this text will not just be an afternoon entertainment read, is more important.
> wisdom, < certainty
> All authors suffered substantial abdominal discomfort from laughter.
- Bloom's finding of 2 sigmas for tutoring seems to be an outlier
- However, both tutoring and "mastery learning" do have a significant positive effect. It is possible that part of the benefits of these methods can be simulated by software
- The effects are strongest for less capable students. Average and gifted students might not benefit significantly from ML/DI
- It is unclear how much these techniques are overfitting to a test, or whether they generalise to other life skills
- General scepticism about the quality of educational research, the expected value of new methods, and overall value of classroom education in general
DI as a method includes a "90% of all taught material must be review" rule which while helpful for the less proficient students who are the main focus of the method, is probably overkill even for an average student let alone a gifted one.[0] What's more relevant is that instruction should be as unambiguous as possible and that the mastery-learning principle should be followed.
[0] It's also a plausible factor behind the common complaint that DI involves less "creativity, joy and spontaneity" than more popular and commonplace educational methods. This plausibly reflects the outlook of above-average students, but likely not of less proficient ones, for whom 'review' and a tight feedback loop is very helpful indeed!