Flipping for Technology? Student Attitudes toward the Flipped Classroom
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Patricia Roehling and Dr. Lindsey Root Luna
Document Type
Poster
Event Date
4-10-2015
Abstract
Theoretically, the flipped classroom allows students to work at their own paces, lets instructors use class time more engagingly and efficiently, and increases instructor-student interactions (Herreid & Schiller, 2013). However, research regarding flipped classroom advantages is inconclusive; in some studies, students have found the classroom activities and pre-recorded lectures to be extremely worthwhile and engaging (Critz & Knight, 2013) while other studies have found no difference in student evaluations between the flipped and traditional classrooms (Davies, Dean & Ball, 2013). Furthermore, most of the research has studied the flipped classroom in STEM courses. The purpose of our study was to examine student attitudes towards the flipped classroom in Introduction to Psychology. We also sought to identify factors that predicted student preferences regarding the flipped classroom. In a repeated measures design, attitudes towards the flipped classroom were assessed from a sample of 131 (68.9% female) Introductory Psychology students. Four different modules (research methods, sensation and perception, learning, and personality) were flipped over the course of the semester. We found that more than half of students believed that the flipped classroom was more interesting (57.0%) than lecture. However, a slight majority of students preferred the lecture style classroom (56.2%) and about half reported that the lecture was more effective in helping them learn the material. Despite this, the majority of students recommended using the flipped classroom teaching method (93.2%) to some degree. The largest percentage of students recommended keeping the current ratio of flipped classes and lectures. In examining factors that predicted attitudes, students with lower GPAs tended to prefer the flipped classroom format more than the lecture. Similarly, students with lower exam scores preferred the flipped format to the lecture format. Finally, extroverted students preferred the flipped classroom more than introverted students.
Recommended Citation
A recommended citation will become available once a downloadable file has been added to this entry.
Comments
This research was supported in part by a grant to Hope College from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute through the Undergraduate Science Education Program.