Abstract
In an undergraduate Calculus III class, we explore the effect of “flipping” the instructional delivery of content on both student performance and student perceptions. Two instructors collaborated to determine daily lecture notes, assigned the same homework problems, and gave identical exams; however, compared to a more traditional instructional approach, the flipped instructor utilized videos to communicate more procedural course content to students out-of-class, with time in-class spent on more conceptual activities and homework problems. Findings from two semesters indicate similar performance on more procedural problems and small to moderate gains for the flipped students (N = 74) over their traditional counterparts (N = 77) on more conceptual exam problems. However, student perceptions remain mixed, with flipped students reporting increased communication during class but traditional students perceiving more effective use of class time, despite the gains in performance for flipped students.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
We recognize that no two courses can be identical – indeed, any student question might cause an instructor to look at another example or deviate slightly from the intended lecture notes; however, the shared lecture notes and homework problems made the course content as similar as possible.
We use Cohen’s (1988) guidelines for small (η p 2 > .01), moderate (η p 2 > .06), and large effect sizes (η p 2 > .14).
References
Abeysekera, L. & Dawson, P. (2015). Motivation and cognitive load in the flipped classroom: definition, rationale and a call for research. Higher Education Research and Development, 34(1), 1–14.
Aiken, L. S., West, S. G. & Reno, R. R. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Bergmann, J. & Sams, A. (2009). Remixing chemistry class: two Colorado teachers make vodcasts of their lectures to free up class time for hands-on activities. Learning & Leading with Technology, 36(4), 22–27.
Bergmann, J. & Sams, A. (2012). Flip your classroom: Reach every student in every class every day. Alexandria, Egypt: ACSD and International Society for Technology in Education.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. New York, NY: Academic.
Critz, C. & Knight, D. (2013). Using the flipped classroom in graduate nursing education. Nurse Educator, 38(5), 210–213.
Crouch, C. H. & Mazur, E. (2001). Peer instruction: ten years of experience and results. American Journal of Physics, 69(9), 970–977. doi:10.1119/1.1374249.
Day, J. A. & Foley, J. D. (2006). Evaluating a web lecture intervention in a human-computer interaction course. IEEE Transactions on Education, 49(4), 420–431. doi:10.1109/TE.2006.879792.
Deslauriers, L., Schelew, E. & Wieman, C. (2011). Improved learning in a large-enrollment physics class. Science, 332(6031), 862–864. doi:10.2307/29784281.
Ferreri, S. P. & O’Connor, S. K. (2013). Redesign of a large lecture course into a small-group learning course. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 77(1), Article 13. doi:10.5688/ajpe77113.
Findlay-Thompson, S. & Mombourquette, P. (2014). Evaluation of a flipped classroom in an undergraduate business course. Business Education & Accreditation, 6(1), 63–71.
Foertsch, J., Moses, G., Strikwerda, J. & Litzkow, M. (2002). Reversing the lecture/homework paradigm using eTEACH web-based streaming video software. Journal of Engineering Education, 91(3), 267–274.
Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H. & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410–8415.
Gannod, G. C., Burge, J. E., & Helmick, M. T. (2008). Using the inverted classroom to teach software engineering. In W. Schafer, M. Dwyer, & V. Gruhn’s (Eds.), Proceedings of the 30th International Conference on Software Engineering (pp. 777–786). New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery.
Hake, R. R. (1998). Interactive-engagement versus traditional methods: a six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses. American Journal of Physics, 66(1), 64–74.
Hertz, M. B. (2012). The flipped classroom: Pro and con. Retrieved from Edutopia website: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/flipped-classroom-pro-and-con-mary-beth-hertz.
Kilpatrick, J., Swafford, J. & Findell, B. (Eds.). (2001). Adding it up: Helping children learn mathematics. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Lage, M. J., Platt, G. J. & Treglia, M. (2000). Inverting the classroom: a gateway to creating an inclusive learning environment. The Journal of Economic Education, 31(1), 30–43. doi:10.2307/1183338.
Mazur, E. (1996). Are science lectures a relic of the past? Physics World, 9(9), 13–16.
Missildine, K., Fountain, R., Summers, L. & Gosselin, K. (2013). Flipping the classroom to improve student performance and satisfaction. Journal of Nursing Education, 52(10), 597–599.
Moravec, M., Williams, A., Aguilar-Roca, N. & O’Dowd, D. K. (2010). Learn before lecture: a strategy that improves learning outcomes in a large introductory biology class. CBE Life Sciences Education, 9(4), 473–481.
Ronchetti, M. (2010). Using video lectures to make teaching more interactive. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 5(2), 45–48. doi:10.3991/ijet.v5i2.1156.
Shadish, W. R., Cook, T. D. & Campbell, D. T. (2002). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Stelzer, T., Brookes, D. T., Gladding, G. & Mestre, J. P. (2010). Impact of multimedia learning modules on an introductory course on electricity and magnetism. American Journal of Physics, 78(7), 755–759.
Strauss, A. & Corbin, J. M. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Strayer, J. (2012). How learning in an inverted classroom influences cooperation, innovation and task orientation. Learning Environments Research, 15(2), 171–193. doi:10.1007/s10984-012-9108-4.
Talbert, R. (2012). Learning MATLAB in the inverted classroom [AC 2012-3680]. Proceedings of the 2012 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference & Exposition. Retrieved from http://www.asee.org/public/conferences/8/registration/sessions
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
ESM 1
(DOC 138 kb)
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wasserman, N.H., Quint, C., Norris, S.A. et al. Exploring Flipped Classroom Instruction in Calculus III. Int J of Sci and Math Educ 15, 545–568 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-015-9704-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-015-9704-8