The Flipped Classroom

Most of you probably already have enough background on the idea of the flipped classroom, so I'm not going to waste my time delving deep into the principle and how it works.  John Bergmann, founder of the flipped class model definitely explains it best.  Here's a 5-minute FAQ that gets the point across:

So in a nutshell, what is it that's being flipped?  Bergmann and his colleague, Aaron Sams, take the traditional educational model (direct instruction in class; practice at home) and turn it on its head.  Most of the direct instruction takes place at home through lectures and demonstrations recorded on video, leaving class time free for student-centered practice, inquiry activities, discussions and formative assessment, with the teacher acting as facilitator.

For all the talk around the flipped classroom, I had never really looked much into it.  In the world of education, there are so many buzzwords and fads floating around and many of them end up being passing phases.  It's often hard to know which ideas are really worth trying out in the classroom unless you know someone who is trying something that really seems to be working for them.  Sometimes it takes some evangelizing to spread the good news.

One of the main voices I'm aware of regarding flipped classroom "movement" is that of Sal Khan of Khan Academy fame.

Image credit:  https://www.thelavinagency.com/speakers/salman-khan 

I have used his videos here and there, and I've found them to be very succinct and well-done, especially considering their simplicity (using just simple paint tools).  It goes to show that all the bells and whistles are sometimes distractors rather than visual aids.  Generally however, they were an afterthought--a tool to share with students who really need extra help getting a complex concept.  It never really dawned on me to use these videos (or as John Bergmann suggests) create my own video content for the purposes of direct instruction outside of the classroom.

Doing some further research into the flipped classroom, I wouldn't say I'm sold on the model as the most effective tool in my own classes, but I'm definitely open to the idea of trying it out to see what sorts of new opportunities it could open up when it comes to making the most of the limited class time I have with my students.

According to Bergmann, the main question behind his and Sams' research is, what is the best use of face-to-face time we have with our students?  

As middle school science teacher Linda Dunavant points out, the best use of class time for any science teacher is to have our students doing science as much as possible.  This becomes difficult when we spend such a large amount of our time teaching (often at a frenetic pace) to get through all the content we need to cover over the course of the year.  I know that I constantly feel like I'm racing to get as much in as possible, often at the expense of time I would like to spend interacting with students individually and providing adequate closure at the end of each lesson. 

On the Blackboard Blog, Dr. Caroline Steel, a strategic consultant for Blackboard, outlines some of the pitfalls that can cause a flipped classroom experience to "flop".  Among them were, "There was no clear induction into flipped learning; Students didn’t understand why the class was flipped."  Another common problem in failed classroom flipping: "There was no obvious integration or linkages between the online and in-class components."  Additionally, "There was no appeal for learners to engage; no incentives to engage with content, activities or classes," (Steel, 2018).  Obviously, these are some of the things we want to avoid if we are to use this method effectively and get students to buy into it.  

Steel goes on to outline a framework for successfully flipping the classroom, including a few major pieces of advice.  This framework is definitely worth checking out, but I think the most important suggestion right off the bat is the first one she gives:  "Provide learner induction and FLC [Flipped Learning Classroom] rationale."  For any teacher who is thinking of trying out this method, the first thing to do is just to lay it out explicitly for the students, explaining what will be taking place and why.  Without this initial step, there is sure to be a lot of confusion along the way.  

Since it's the middle of summer, I haven't had the chance to actually flip a lesson with my students.  However, I have put some significant thought into how I could go about doing this logistically.  What type of lesson should I try out?  What specific topic?  How should I record my lesson?  What sorts of visuals should I use?  

Now, I know enough about myself to know that I can't just sit in front of a camera and talk.  In front of a class of students, no problem; the words just flow.  But talking to a camera or a microphone, for some reason I can't think and talk at the same time.  I'm the type of person who literally has to take at least five tries to record my voicemail greeting (you know, the one that goes like... "Hi, you've reached Josh Collins.  Sorry I missed your call... bla bla bla."  How hard is that to say?  But I manage to screw it up every time.  

So for my lesson, I knew this wouldn't work.  There's no way I'd be able to record more than a minute at a time (if that).  So I looked around online for ideas, but then it came to me.  I'm very comfortable with PowerPoint and it's what I use to present content in class every day.  I know that the new version of PowerPoint has a recording tab that allows you to record audio and video over a presentation and integrate it all together in the perfect way for a flipped lesson video.  

For my lesson, I chose a topic within the subject of evolution:  bad design.  What I mean by this is the exact opposite of "intelligent design", which has been touted as a more sciencey way to spice up creationism.  The idea is that some organs and organisms are so complex that there's no way random natural selection could have allowed for their gradual evolution, hence an intelligent power must have designed them.  The human eye is often held up as a classic example.  

The point in my lesson is that there are indeed ways to explain complex parts like the eye, and that many parts illustrate the exact opposite point, i.e. they are poorly designed and are obviously the result of a natural gradual process, completely lacking in foresight.  No intelligent designer would arrange some of our parts the way they are arranged.  Check out my video for some examples including a very cool demonstration of the blind spot we have in the retina of each eye.

Having my students view this lesson from home should give them the basic background they need on this concept to understand the power of natural selection in explaining the origins of some most complex anatomical parts evolution has cooked up in the lab.  Following this, the next day's lesson would be devoted to (1) answering any questions students have and addressing misconceptions and (2) finding and researching other examples of "bad design" in nature.  For instance, doesn't it seem a little strange that the same body parts used for reproduction are also used for elimination of liquid waste?  (Who came up with that idea?)

My video is definitely longer than I intended it to be, and it took many (MANY) more takes that I thought it would to get through (especially when my neighbor randomly started revving the engine of his motorbike for about a half hour this afternoon).  At this point, I feel comfortable saying that I don't know if I'm cut out for this.  Like Bergmann said in the video above, it's one thing to give students video content from YouTube; but what's really effective is creating your own content tailored to your class.  It would be great to put together a bunch of lessons to use in this manner, but it would definitely take a lot of practice, and I'm not sure how worth it it would be for my teaching style.  

I think I'll have to take Bergmann and Sams' advice and try it out with one lesson that I could flip.  If I end up liking it, I can try it again, and if it's something that proves valuable for my students and our time together, then who knows?  Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go re-record my voicemail greeting.  



References:

Common Sense Education (2016, July 12).  "What is flipped learning?"  Retrieved July 18, 2018 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot_dKs_LRf0.

Dunavant, L. (2015, Aug. 21).  "Flipping the science classroom."  Educational Innovations, Inc.  Retrieved July 18, 2018 from http://blog.teachersource.com/2015/08/21/flipping-the-classroom-science/.

Steel, C. (2018, Feb. 15).  "Why do flipped classrooms sometimes flop?"  Blackboard Blog.  Retrieved July 18, 2018 from https://blog.blackboard.com/why-do-flipped-classrooms-sometimes-flop/.