Flipped Classrooms

What is a "Flipped Classroom"?

A Flipped Classroom is a pedagogical model that switches traditional in-class lecture with homework for class time. Adopting the "Flipped Classroom" method allows room for students to become more involved during the class time and encourages active learning. Here is an excellent article that talks about "7 Things You Should Know About Flipped Classrooms". It gives great insight as to how this particular teaching method creates a whole new learning experience for students and instructors.  According to Knewton Inc., The Flipped Classroom allows students to watch a lecture form home on a computer, tablet, smartphone, etc. at their own pace. The lectures would be followed by an online quiz testing their knowledge on the content and receiving immediate feedback on how well they understood the content given in the lecture. What is unique about a flipped classroom is that students can pace themselves during the lecture instead of trying to write down every word the professor is saying and taking in the important concepts.

 The way I would use the concept of a flipped classroom would be for example, on the subject of Photosynthesis in Science. I am a huge believer that any hands-on interaction is especially crucial to any student in retaining information. I would use this short video or this video to introduce the concept of photosynthesis prior to any teaching in the classroom. I would require students to watch this video beforehand and be prepared to discuss in class. I would plan a hands-on activity like having students nurture their own plant and record its progress as time goes by. During class we could have group discussions on what we learned from the assigned video lectures and how we can apply that to the plants we are growing in the classroom.


 The chart on the right is called "The Learning Pyramid". It shows how incorporating all of our senses when learning something new, will have a greater retention rate than just using our ears to listen to a lecture vs. listening, practicing and applying would. I think the concept of a flipped classroom will become more popular as technology is being integrated much more today than yesterday.