The Flipped Classroom

Numerous teachers are constantly looking for new ways to teach and engage their students in order to enhance their learning experience. One of the techniques that resulted from this search is a concept known as “the flipped classroom.” This concept came about when Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann, chemistry teachers at Woodland Park High School at the time, were looking for a way to keep absent students up to date in class without having to reteach lessons. They decided to record their lessons, include annotations, and then post them online. This way, students who were absent in class on a particular day could see what they had missed online. Bergmann and Sams later noticed that even students who had attended class found the online material useful, and used this to discover a new way of teaching.

Several teachers around the world have since adopted the “flipped classroom” technique. While not all use an identical approach, the common principle is for students to learn what would previously have been taught in class at home through lesson videos the teacher creates. Then class time would be used to work through problems pertaining to the topic covered in the videos as well as concepts people had difficulty understanding. Students are able to work with the teacher or with their peers, creating a more active and engaging learning environment.

My experience with this form of learning came in the 10th grade when my chemistry teacher decided to test it out during the second semester. She, along with the other teachers in the chemistry department, created a work packet that had practice problems for all the topics we would cover that semester. Each night, we were assigned videos to watch and take notes on that her fellow teacher had created and uploaded to YouTube. These videos, similar to those found on Khan Academy, were of a black screen where the instructor would write down important points, formulas, or examples as she taught. The next day in class, the teacher would briefly go over any area there seemed to be general confusion in. Then each student would work on the section in their packet that correlated to the videos we had watched the night before, while asking each other or the teacher for help when needed.

I really enjoyed that semester of learning in the class. The “flipped classroom” method allowed me to have a deeper encoding of the material I was learning because it was almost like I was teaching myself the material. It did pose its challenges, such as when the lesson video was difficult to follow, but since I had access to the Internet while watching it, I was able to search the web for clarifications and take my own time until I understood. This method was not a success with all students, however. This is due to the fact that some students work better with the freedom and independence the flipped classroom offers, while some students are more successful under a more structured learning environment. It is also not appropriate for all subjects, suiting subjects like mathematics and science more. While the “flipped classroom” is not for everyone, there are students that can greatly benefit from it. If there can be a structured way to implement it into the learning environment of the students it is effective for, then their learning experience could be vastly improved.


Read more on the “flipped classroom” here: https://www.educationnext.org/the-flipped-classroom/.

To read more on the "flipped classroom" in our blog:

https://straube.blogspot.com/2012/08/khan-academy-enters-next-era-with-ipad.html

http://straube.blogspot.com/2018/05/flipping-classroom.html

Contribution by Chizbel Oham