Rationale

A flipped classroom brings innovative teaching methods to calculus.

The Problem

In the traditional classroom, there is never enough time to adequately cover the prescribed material. Typically, students are presented with the facts of the topic according to a predefined schedule and assessed to determine the extent of retention at the end of the term. Over the past century, educators have come to realise that this not only leads to poor learning outcomes, but also to graduates that are unable to apply what they have learned/memorised to the rapidly changing real-world contexts within which we now live. What is needed are graduates with higher order thinking skills, who can adapt what they have learned to novel situations and make sense of a technologically changing world.

In response to this need for a change in the very nature of what is taught, educators have gravitated towards constructivist approaches to teaching and learning, with an emphasis on how to acquire, structure and use new knowledge. However, the traditional classroom approach had already proven that there is barely enough time to acquire new knowledge, let alone learn to use it in flexible ways.

The Solution

One proposed solution to this dilemma is to use technology to move out of the classroom didactive instruction and individual learning activities, thereby freeing up precious class time for the teaching and learning of higher level skills. Bishop & Verlenger (2013) define the flipped classroom as follows:

“The flipped classroom is a new pedagogical method, which employs asynchronous video lectures and practice problems as homework, and active, group-based problem solving activities in the classroom. It represents a unique combination of learning theories once thought to be incompatible — active, problem-based learning activities founded upon a constructivist ideology and instructional lectures derived from direct instruction methods founded upon behaviorist principles.”

As researchers, Bishop & Verlenger (2013) claim that little work has been done investigating the learning outcomes of flipped classrooms objectively, and that more work needs to be done in this regard. However, reports of student perceptions are that students tend to prefer in-person lectures to video lectures, but prefer interactive classroom activities over lectures. Anecdotal evidence also suggests that student learning is improved for the flipped when compared to traditional classroom.

Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams are two of many educators who have been experimenting with flipped classrooms (Bergmann & Sams, 2008), and in 2015 are still enthusiastic about the benefits gained. Indeed, Bergmann and Sams have co-authored three books on the subject and, as of February 2015, Jon Bergmann’s web site Turning Learning on its Head reports that he has a soon to be released book in the works called “Flipping the Science Classroom”. Bergmann & Sams (2008) make the point that:

“As educators, we continually strive to improve the quality of time spent in class with our students..., we know that lectures are necessary to convey content, but experiential learning is more effective at constructing and solidifying knowledge. ”

Reports are that the flipped classroom provides greater flexibility for students who are struggling for various reasons, allowing students with difficult life-situations to choose times and places to do out-of-class work and struggling learners the opportunity to receive face-to-face support from teachers who are no longer occupied with lecturing during class time.

Under the best of conditions, the flipped classroom makes available more class time for building the habits of mind required of lifelong learners. Whether or not these gains are realised is dependent on how this class time is used (Flipped Learning Network (FLN). (2014) The Four Pillars of F-L-I-P™ ).

The Flipped Learning Network is a community of practice from which teachers and instructional designers can get support on flipping classrooms.