2014 Spring ConfChem: Flipped Classroom

Recent research in cognitive science has revolutionized our understanding of how the brain solves problems.  This paper will review how characteristics of “working memory” favor a model of instruction in which students “automate the fluent retrieval of elements of core knowledge” during study time.  This frees class time for instructors to guide active learning:  Inquiry, demonstrations, and discussions that move students toward the conceptual framework of experts.  Evidence will be offered this alignment of instruction with human cognitive architecture results in improved student outcomes.

Instructors deserve time-saving support for experiments with “flipped” lessons.  This paper will describe available materials that support flipping in both “college preparatory” and general chemistry courses.  By applying research in reading comprehension, these “notes with clicker questions” move a portion of lecture content to homework - a convenient alternative to videotaping lectures.  Also noted will be instructional strategies that encourage students to complete homework in a timely manner.

Work will be described that remains to be done in cataloging activities that build conceptual understanding in different first-year levels and instructional settings.  Readers will be invited to participate in suggesting and testing proposals for active learning that ease the burden on instructors during their initial semesters of a cognitive-science-based flip.

Just in Time Teaching is a technique where students read the material before class and respond to a few questions via an online interface.  The instructor will then develop the class for that material around the students’ responses.  In a first year seminar course, The Chemistry of Food, students were assigned to maintain blogs for the entire 16-day term.  In order to create an online learning community, the instructor’s blog in lieu of a quiz was utilized as a forum to assign the readings and pose questions about the readings.  The comments on the instructor blog, as well as individual student posts, were utilized to develop the classroom discussion; moreover, many of the readings were not discussed in class but entirely online.  Many students who would not normally participate in class were more than willing to participate online; thus, this approach provided the class discussion with more variety and greater input from the students. 

Two major advantages of the flipped classroom format are that it allows for greater flexibility in the use of class time and it enhances the quality and quantity of one-on-one teaching encounters between faculty and students. There are as many varieties of the flipped format as there are educators using it, so experience varies from classroom to classroom. What is important is that the format should emphasize active learning on the part of the students, empowering them to take responsibility for the learning process. The teacher’s role becomes one of facilitator or coach. In my experience, the flipped classroom method combines lecture videos which students view before coming to class with class time reserved for problem-solving exercises, Just-in-Time teaching utilizing reading forums and customized teacher feedback, Peer Learning, case work and discussions, writing exercises, and performing online exercises and research. As a result, class time is better structured, and I can address special concerns and weaknesses expressed by individual students about the material. I have more interaction with individual students during class and can provide one-on-one instruction in short bursts to students hung up on a particular problem or application. Interaction with students provides feedback, so I can perform real-time assessments of student skill levels and mastery of the material, and I can adjust the curriculum and the pace of the class accordingly. Students also benefit from the ability to watch lectures on their own time, pausing the recording to work on lecture problems, and repeat difficult sections for better understanding. The major disadvantages of the flipped classroom format are student pushback and resistance to active learning methods, the amount of prep work that must be done to produce video lectures and to prepare assignments for each class session, the need for quick turnaround of in-class assignments for student assessment purposes, and the lack of quality support available to educators who wish to employ the approach.

In the Just-in-Time Teaching approach, a faculty member assigns readings to students before every class.  After the students have done the daily reading, they access a short reading quiz on a course management system (e.g., Moodle).  The faculty member uses student responses to the quiz in the preparation of the day's class material and is able to tailor his or her explanations to target specific student questions or confusion.  This paper describes the use of this approach to engage students in chemistry classes at Centre College.