Flipped classroom is a learning strategy and blended learning that aims to increase student engagement and learning by having students complete reading at home and work on real-time problem solving during class. The purpose of this review is to understand the use of flipped learning activities, the impact of the flipped classroom approach on the performance of K-12 students, and their relationship to the flipped classroom approach.
Flippling Education and Active Learning
Although the flipped classroom has been used in some disciplines for years, its recent popularity is partly due to the availability of new technologies, such as easy-to-learn lecture recording software, and may be partly due to high-profile media articles such as “Flipping Education” in The New York Times (Rosenberg, 2013) and “How the Flipped Classroom Can Improve Traditional Lectures in the Chronicle of Higher Education” (Berrett, 2012).
The adoption of “flipped” learning methods (sometimes referred to as flipped classrooms) has increased in recent years. Growing in popularity. Best for studios or labs, the flipped classroom invites students to move from a passive presence in the classroom to an active participant in the learning process.
The classroom lessons that accompany the flipped classroom may include, among other things, learning more traditional or homework tasks to engage students in the content. Flipped classroom activities can be specifically designed to teach students valuable intrapersonal and interpersonal skills. Essentially, The Flipped Classroom gives educators more time to support their students in active learning by redistributing time spent on teaching and learning.
Effective Learning Outside and Inside the Classroom
Flipped teaching educators are always looking for ways to maximize classroom time so that students are actively involved in learning and practice. It is critical to think about flipped lessons and engaging activities to ensure the most effective learning in and out of the classroom.
Inverted learning requires students to engage in learning content outside the classroom before completing related tasks during school hours when the teacher is on hand. In a flipped learning environment, teachers make lessons available to students when and where it is convenient for the student, at home, in the classroom, on the bus, or even from a hospital bed. When learning is flipped, students can watch the lesson and save any questions for the class, which eases the workload and again, ensures that help and support is available exactly when needed.
The point of flipping is that students can get more individual attention from the class teacher if they are actively working on class assignments. Students love that the flipped classroom allows them to receive real-time guidance and support while working in the classroom (Long et al., 2016). Consider explaining to students what a flipped classroom is, why active learning is important for them to understand what will be difficult, and the importance of doing homework before class.
What Makes Flipped Classrooms a Better Learning Method for You
In the flipped classroom, students complete the learning normally done in the classroom (by watching videos and/or accessing resources) in their spare time, and class time is dedicated to hands-on activities and interaction and one-on-one learning that leads to a deeper understanding.
Students in the flipped classroom see digital or online lectures as a prerequisite, and then spend time in class for active learning, such as discussions, peer learning, presentations, projects, problem solving, math, and group activities. Typically, flipping involves giving students an instructional video to watch online as homework while problem solving or other hands-on work is done in class.
The Advantages of Upside-Down Classrooms
The authors go on to explain that the “upside down class” is a mixture of direct learning and constructivism, making it easier for students who may have missed a lesson to keep up because they can watch the video at any time. Unlike traditional lessons where students learn at the pace of instructors, students in flipped classrooms can rewind and play videos as often as needed to improve their understanding of complex concepts.
Reverting to the traditional learning model – a lesson followed by homework – flipped learning means that prior to attending a lesson, students engage in knowledge transfer or “first-hand” activities such as reading, listening, or watching the lesson.
Showing Better Results in Studies
When designing a flipped course, it is generally accepted that educators should use pre-class tests and assignments to ensure that students are ready to participate in and benefit from the flipped lesson period. In fact, previous reviews (for example, report that some students were not familiar with the flipped classroom approach and skipped pre-classes.)
According to Flipped Learning Networks, 71% of teachers who flipped their classes saw an improvement in grades, and 80% reported as a result, student attitudes improved.
The Development of Different Skills Among Students
Importantly, we also found that flipped learning was superior to lesson-based learning in promoting all of the intra/interpersonal outcomes examined, including improving students’ interpersonal skills, increasing their engagement with content, and developing their metacognitive skills such as time management and strategies Clarks (2015). Students also favored the flipped classroom approach, as the flipped classroom approach provided more opportunities for different learning methods (e.g., project-based learning, real-world application) rather than just listening to lectures.
The Student-Centered Model of Learning
The flipped classroom intentionally shifts learning into a student-centered model where time spent in the classroom is used to explore topics in more depth and create meaningful learning opportunities as students are initially exposed to new topics outside of the classroom. The Flipped Classroom is a “pedagogical approach that shifts direct learning from a group learning space to an individual learning space and transforms the resulting group space into a dynamic and interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply concepts and participate creatively in the topic ” (The Flipped Learning Network, 2014). Another theoretical benefit of flipped learning is that flipped learning allows learners to incorporate key information into their long-term memory before the lesson.