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experimental study with two distinct groups. Many students in the experimental group also chose to attend classroom lectures so learning gains in the experimental group may have been due to the multiple exposures to course content, rather than the method of delivery. Published articles about the flipped teaching approach are primarily at the university level, rather than examining the impact on high school classes. Alvarez (2011) did repo rt the effects of a flip teaching model on the failure rates of Clintondale high school students in a suburb of Detroit. Teachers at this school recorded the pe rcentage of students that failed their class one year (under the traditional lecture/homework model) followed by the percentage of students that failed their class the following year (using the inverted instructional strategy). In English Language Arts, the percentage of students failing fell from 52% to 19%; in math, failure rates dropped from 44% to 13%; in science, failures declined from 41% to 19%, a nd in social studies, fewer than 10% of students failed, compared to nearly a third the previous year ye ar (Alvarez, 2011). These results provide evidence supporting the effectiveness of the flip teaching approach on academic achievement. However, not enough details are given to determine if classroom conditions were controlled from one year to the next, and if students were comparable both years. Several themes emerge from the literature on flipped classrooms. Under certain conditions, changing to a flipped model of teaching may lead to a decline in failure rates of students (Alvarez, 2011), perhaps because this approach affords students the ability to easily get caught up if they miss class, learners can pause and rewind lecture videos and a nd re-watch them to increase their understanding, and in-class time is spent on productive, collaborative exercises intended to enrich understanding. Other studies did not indicate a change in academic achievement due to inverted instruction (Frederickson et al., 2005; Lents & Cifuentes, 2009).
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These were at the university level, however, howe ver, so further research is necessary to determine if this would apply to secondary students in a flipped classroom. An important consideration when deciding to adopt the flipped teaching approach is whether students will prefer this method versus traditional instruction. Overall, feedback on the flipped classroom approach has been quite q uite positive, indicating that many students prefer this teaching model versus traditional instruction (Foertsch et al., 2002; La ge et al., 2000; Lents & Cifuentes, 2009; Sadaghiani, 2011). Studies S tudies where students preferred traditional lectures indicated that learners still highly valued the collaborative learning activities afforded by the inverted instructional approach (Frederickson et al., 2005; Ronchetti, 2010; Strayer, 2012). This seems to indicate that students see the benefits of the extra time spent in class practicing course concepts, but there may be a need for better instructional videos. Perhaps as technology continues to evolve, it will be possible po ssible to make pre-recorded videos that are interactive, allowing students to ask questions as they watch or o r complete a short multiple choice quiz to check their understanding and correct any misconceptions. The flip teaching approach is still relatively new, but the proliferation of blogs about it online indicate that several teachers are trying it out at the high school level. Gaps in the research indicate the need for an experimental study within the secondary classroom. The goal of my research is to contribute a view of a controlled study of a flipped secondary science class. Research Method
Due to the nature of the questions guiding this research, it is necessary to investigate the learning environments of classroom flip and traditional lecture-homework structured classes using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Academic achievement will be measured by comparing the results of pre-tests and po st-tests of two Science 10 units of study
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within flipped and traditional classes, and student surveys and interviews will be used at the end of the second unit to determine de termine whether students preferred a flipped classroom or traditional learning approach. My hypothesis is that Science 10 students in a flipped classroom will show higher academic achievement and greater satisfaction with this instructional approach than Science 10 students in a traditional lecture/homework classroom. The two units of study within this Science 10 research will be Chemistry and Physics. Phy sics. In British Columbia, Science 10 is composed of four main topics: Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Earth Science. From my six years experience teaching Science 10, I have found that Chemistry and Physics are the topics that require the greatest amount of direct instruction. Other, more constructivist approaches have been successful in my classes for the Biology and Earth Science components of Science 10. Four classes will take part in this study; two will receive direct instruction on Chemistry concepts and complete practice questions for homework, while two will receive their instruction through pre-recorded videos that students watch in their own time, allowing class-time to be spent on collaborative learning activities to clarify Chemistry concepts. Once the Chemistry unit is concluded, classes will switch instructional methods for the Physics unit. Classes previously receiving direct instruction will now learn under a flipped approach, while the previously inverted sections will take on the traditional lecture/homework method of instruction. Participants
As a Science, Math, and Psychology teacher at a school where I have worked for the past eight years, I will conduct this study on four blocks of students during the 2013-2014 school year. The learners that I will study are Science 10 students at a secondary school in Langley, British Columbia that is on a linear schedule. The research will take place from September to February
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during the 2013-2014 school year. Random selection from the school population of approximately 350 grade 10 students will place 30 students in each of my four Science 10 classes. Science 10 students were chosen as participants because this class is a provincially examinable course in British Columbia, and the curriculum is packed with so many learning outcomes that it can be difficult to teach all of the required material while still allowing time for labs, projects, and completion of assignments during class time. When I heard about the flipped classroom teaching approach, Science 10 immediately came to my mind as a course that could potentially benefit from this new instructional method. Participants will be informed at the beginning of the school year that they are the subject of a research study, and will be given the chance to switch classes if they do not wish to participate. A letter will also be sent home to parents informing them about the teaching approaches that will be used, and asking parents to consent to their child’s participation. All participants will be assured of confidentiality and protection from harm to ensure ensure that ethical guidelines are followed. Instruments
Academic achievement in Science 10 will be assessed by means of multiple-choice paper-and-pencil tests. These tests will each contain 40 questions that cover the material in the two units of study. Similar versions, with different questions but the same con cepts will be used as pre and posttests. Thus four tests will be required – a pretest about Science 10 Chemistry, a posttest on Science 10 Chemistry, a pretest about Science 10 Physics, and a posttest on Science 10 Physics. Course member perceptions of aspects of their learning experience will be obtained in three ways. First, at the end of the second unit of study (Physics), five items will be presented in
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a rating scale questionnaire format to assess aspects of satisfaction within the course. Th e five point scale will range from 1 (‘not at all’) to 5 (‘very (‘very much’). Participants will be asked to consider their experience of Science 10 since September and rate the following for each of the flipped instructional unit and the traditional homework/lecture unit: enjoyment, interest, motivation, sense of achievement, and effectiveness of learning. Scores on each item will be summed and averaged to produce a summary score for satisfaction within each instructional approach ranging between 1 and 5. Secondly, open-ended feedback will be invited in response to questions about which instructional method the student preferred. Th ird, select students will be interviewed to provide further data about student perspectives of the learning environment. Procedure
At the beginning of the school year, 120 grade 10 Science students will be selected from a population of approximately 350 tenth grade students at the school. Selected students will be divided into four blocks of 30 students each, as I will be teaching four blocks of Science 10. All groups will cover the same subject matter and use the same textbook. The groups will have the same length, frequency, and amount of classes, which will be held in the same room at different times, and I will be the instructor for all four sections. Two classes will be randomly selected to learn the Chemistry Unit using the traditional lecture/homework method of instruction while the other two classes will receive flip teaching. Prior to any instruction, a Chemistry pretest will be delivered to all four blocks to assess prior knowledge. At the end of the Chemistry unit, a posttest will be administered to all four blocks to assess a measure of academic achievement and knowledge of course concepts in the Chemistry 10 unit. The next unit un it of study will be Physics, and students will be pretested prior to any instruction to determine their prior knowledge of Physics 10 concepts. Experimental and control
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groups will switch so that students previously receiving traditional teaching will now learn under a flipped approach, and students previously in the inverted group will now learn under the traditional lecture/homework model. Once the Physics unit is concluded, students will be given a posttest to measure academic achievement and learning gains in the Physics 10 unit of study. Surveys will also be given to students to determine the method of instruction that they preferred, and random selection of a sub-set of students for interviews will delve further into questions about differences in the two learning environments. Research Design and Analysis
The quantitative method used for this research will be a pretest-posttest control group design to control for threats to internal validity. Random assignment will control for regression and selection factors, the pretest will control for mortality and testing, and the control group will control for maturation, history, testing, and instrumentation. Experiment designs of this nature risk a possible interaction between the pretest and the treatment, which may make the results generalizable only to other pretested groups. The possible pretest interaction is likely to be minimized by the nonreactive nature of o f the pretest, however, since chemistry and physics questions can be manipulated with several different chemical formulas or numerical data. Additionally, the length of the study should be sufficient to minimize the effect of the pretest. The control and experimental groups will switch after the first unit of study, as shown in Figure 1, to allow students to make a better informed decision about which instructional method they preferred. This may also help to determine if the flipped classroom approach is more suitable for instruction of Chemistry or Physics course concepts. Surveys and interviews will be conducted after the conclusion of the second unit of study to gauge students’ perceptions of the different learning environments. The design is illustrated below:
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Group 1 Chemistry Pretest
Group 2
Multiple Choice Chemistry Test 1
Teaching of Chemistry Unit
Lectures in Class,
Lectures on Video at Home,
(Sept. – Nov. 2013)
Homework at Home
Learning Activities in Class
Chemistry Posttest
Multiple Choice Chemistry Test 2
Physics Pretest
Multiple Choice Physics Test 1
Teaching of Physics Unit
Lectures on Video at Home,
Lectures in Class,
(Dec. – Feb. 2013)
Learning Activities in Class
Homework at Home
Physics Posttest
Multiple Choice Physics Test 2
Survey
Questionnaire about Satisfaction With Course and Instructional Method
Interviews
Further Questioning About Students’ Perceptions of the Flipped Classroom Versus Traditional Lecture/Homework
Figure 1. Schematic 1. Schematic representation of the design of o f the study Data will be collected in the form of multiple-choice tests to determine the academic achievement of students under both a traditional and flipped approach. The pretest will be used to see if the groups are essentially the same in terms of their Science academic achievement at the start of the unit of study. If they are, then posttest scores can be directly compared using a ‘t test’ and if they are not, then analysis of covariance will adjust posttest scores for initial differences on pretest scores. Students’ preferred method of instruction will be determined using survey data and student interviews. Questionnaire scores will be summed and averaged to determine the satisfaction level of students receiving Chemistry instruction using a traditional lecture/homework approach, students learning about Chemistry within a flipped classroom, students studying Physics with a traditional approach, and students receiving inverted Physics
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instruction. Flipped classroom scores can then be av eraged for both the Chemistry and Physics units, as can traditional lecture/homework scores. This study is limited in design because I am a m both the teacher and the researcher. I attempt to address this limitation by using anonymous surveys and test data, rather than teacher observations. It may become an issue during student interviews, however, if students are reluctant to be forthcoming with criticisms of the course since I control the grade they receive. Thus it may be more effective to have a colleague conduct the student interviews, rather than conducting them myself. Additionally, I will promise students that I will not listen to the interview tapes until after I have submitted their grades for the semester. Schedule of Activities
A timeline is provided in the appendix, breaking down the schedule for each component of the research. Discussion
The hypothesis of this study is that Science 10 students in a flipped classroom will show higher academic achievement and greater satisfaction with this instructional approach than Science 10 students in a traditional lecture/homework classroom. Previous literature on this topic has shown various success rates of a flipped classroom approach on academic performance (Alvarez, 2011; Frederickson et al., 2005; Lents & Cifuentes, 2009). However, many students prefer this teaching model versus traditional instruction instruction (Foertsch et al., 2002; Lage et al., 2000; Lents & Cifuentes, 2009; Sadaghiani, 2011) and students recognize the value of the collaborative learning activities afforded by the inverted instructional approach (Frederickson et al., 2005; Ronchetti, 2010; Strayer, 2012).
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The findings of this study will carry great significance bec ause there is a lack of research on the flipped classroom at the high school level. Experimental studies exist at the university level, but secondary teachers do not currently have scientific data about the effectiveness of this new teaching style. Adding to the research on this topic will help me to determine whether I wish to continue using this teaching approach in the future, and it may impact the decision of other high school teachers thinking about trying a flipped classroom approach.
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8@ References
Alvarez, B. (2011) Flipping the classroom: Homework in class, lessons at home. Education home. Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review, 77 (8), 18-21. Retrieved from http://neapriorityschools.org/successful-students/flipping-the-classroom-homework-inclass-lessons-at-home-2 Foertsch, J., Moses, G., Strikwerda, J., & Litzkow, M. (2002). Reversing the lecture/homework paradigm using eTEACH web-based streaming video software. Journal software. Journal of Engineering Education, 91(3), 91(3), 267-274. Frederickson, N., Reed, P., & Clifford, V. (2005). Evaluating web-supported learning versus lecture-based teaching: Quantitative and qualitative perspectives. Higher perspectives. Higher Education, 50(4), 50(4), 645-664. Lage, M. J., Platt, G. J., & Treglia, M. (2000). Inverting the classroom: A gateway to creating an inclusive learning environment. Journal environment. Journal of Economic Education, 31(1), 31(1), 30-43. Lents, N., & Cifuentes, O. (2009). Web-based learning enhancements: Video lectures through voice-over PowerPoint in a Majors-level Biology course. Journal course. Journal of College Science Teaching, 39(2), 39(2), 38-46. Ronchetti, M. (2010), Using video lectures to make teaching more interactive. International interactive. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 5(2), Learning, 5(2), 45-48. doi:10.3991/ijet.v5i2.1156 Sadaghiani, H. R. (2011). Using multimedia learning modules in a hybrid-online course in electricity and magnetism. Physical magnetism. Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research, 7 (1) (1) 010102-1-010102-7. Strayer, J. F. (2012). How learning in an inverted classroom influences cooperation, innovation and task orientation. Learning orientation. Learning Environments Research, 15(2), 15(2), 171-193.
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98 Appendix
Timeline for the Research:
June, 2013
Students learn about their courses for the following year in July, so I will need to work with my school’s counselling department in June to randomly select 120 students, divided into 4 blocks, for participation pa rticipation in this study. I will then randomly assign two groups to initially comprise the expe rimental group and two groups that will initially be part of the control group.
July –
My time off work during July and August will be spent pre-recording Chemistry
August, 2013
and Physics lectures to use in my flipped classroom blocks.
September,
At the beginning of the school year in September, I will inform students and
2013
their parents about my research, and seek consent for participation. Then I will administer a Chemistry pretest to all four of my Science 10 classes, and make careful note of the results.
September –
September to November will be spent teaching students Chemistry concepts by
November,
one of the two instructional methods, either flip teaching or the traditional
2013
lecture/homework approach.
End of
A Chemistry posttest will be administered to all four of my Sc ience 10 classes
November,
and then I will compare the results of the pretests and posttests. If the
2013
experimental and control groups are essentially e ssentially the same in terms of their Chemistry scores on the pretests, then posttest scores can be directly compared using a ‘t test’ and if they are a re not, then I will use analysis of covariance cov ariance to adjust posttest scores for initial differences differences on pretest scores.
Next, I will give all my Science 10 students a pretest for the Physics unit. Control and experimental groups will switch roles so that students receiving inverted instruction will now learn under a traditional lecture/homework approach, and vice versa. November,
I will teach Physics 10 concepts to the new experimental group using a flipped
2013 –
approach, and to the new control classes using a traditional lecture/homework
February,
model.
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2014 End of
A Physics posttest will be administered to my four blocks of Science 10. Once
February,
again, I will compare the results of the pretests and posttests, but for Physics this
2014
time, to determine if a ‘t test’ or analysis of covariance is required. I will then use the appropriate statistical analysis to analyze my results.
I will hand out questionnaires to all of my Science 10 students, and then analyze the data. I will sum the questions que stions scores, and average them to provide a numerical score for the satisfaction level of the cou rse while taught under each instructional method. I will also analyze written responses to look for themes that emerge in the data. Finally, I will randomly select a subset of ten students to interview about their experiences learning under each instructional method. March – May, 2014
This time is allotted to spend analyzing my results and preparing a written report.
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