Probing the Inverted Classroom: A Study of Teaching and Learning Outcomes in Engineering and Mathematics

Flipped classrooms have started to become commonplace on university campuses. Despite the growing number of flipped courses, however, quantitative information on their effectiveness remains sparse. Active learning is a mode of instruction that focuses the responsibility of learning on learners. Multiple studies have shown that active learning leads to better student outcomes. Given that instructors in flipped classrooms are generally able to create more opportunities for students to apply or practice course material, we hypothesized that students in a flipped classroom would exhibit more learning compared to students in an unflipped class. This case study describes our research comparing an unflipped class that engages students in some active learning to a flipped class that creates more time for active learning and to look for measurable differences in student learning, attitude toward course material, and metacognitive skill

Probing the Inverted Classroom: A Controlled Study of Teaching and Learning Outcomes in Undergraduate Engineering and Mathematics

The inverted or “flipped” classroom has begun to attract much attention among educators in an effort to combine the use of technology and traditional teaching techniques. One definition of the inverted classroom was provided by Lage, Platt, and Treglia1: “Inverting the classroom means that events that have traditionally taken place inside the classroom now take place outside the classroom and vice versa” (p.32). Bishop and Verleger2 provide an expanded view of the inverted classroom by defining it as “an educational technique that consists of two parts: interactive group learning activities inside the classroom, and direct computer-based individual instruction outside the classroom.