Math Forum Discussions

Richard Hake

Posts: 1,122
From: Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Registered: 12/4/04

[math-learn] Flipping the Classroom vs Traditional Lecture
Posted: Feb 25, 2012 5:42 PM

Plain Text

att1.html (14.7 K)

Some subscribers to Math-Learn might be interested in a recent post
"Flipping the Classroom vs Traditional Lecture" [Hake (2012)].

Q. What's "flipping" got to do with Math education?

A. According to the Chronicle article students in "flipped" calculus
courses at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor have attained
average normalized gains on Jerry Epstein's Calculus Concept
Inventory that are about two standard deviations greater than those
of students in traditional lecture courses.

The abstract reads:

****************************************************
ABSTRACT: Dan Berrett (2012a) in a recent "Chronicle of Higher
Education" reported on "How 'Flipping' the Classroom Can Improve the
Traditional Lecture" at <http://bit.ly/xKYX8h>. According to Berrett
"Flipping describes the inversion of expectations in the traditional
college lecture. It takes many forms, including 'interactive
engagement,' 'just-in-time teaching,' and 'peer instruction'," all
originating in physics education.

However, the chief criticism of Melissa Franklin, chair of Harvard's
physics department, is based on the intensity of students' responses
- the average score on a student evaluation of a flipped course is
about half what the same professor gets when using the traditional
lecture, she says "When the students are feeling really bad about
required courses, it doesn't seem like a good thing."

Quoting Berrett: "Liking the class is ultimately beside the point,
Mr. Mazur says. He says his results from using Peer Instruction show
that, on the "Force Concept Inventory," non-majors who take his class
outperform physics majors who learn in traditional lectures. 'You
want students to like class, but that's not the goal of education,'
Mr. Mazur says. 'I could give them foot massages and they'd like it.'
"

In this post I give a highly condensed version of Berrett's report,
into which I have inserted some hot-linked academic references.
****************************************************

To access the complete 29 kB post please click on <http://bit.ly/wYdWIl>.

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands
President, PEdants for Definitive Academic References
which Recognize the Invention of the Internet (PEDARRII)
<rrhake@earthlink.net>
Links to Articles: <http://bit.ly/a6M5y0>
Links to SDI Labs: <http://bit.ly/9nGd3M>
Blog: <http://bit.ly/9yGsXh>
Academia: <http://iub.academia.edu/RichardHake>
Twitter <https://twitter.com/#!/rrhake>

"I point to the following unwelcome truth: much as we might dislike
the implications, research is
showing that didactic exposition of abstract ideas and lines of
reasoning (however engaging
and lucid we might try to make them) to passive listeners yields
pathetically thin results in
learning and understanding - except in the very small percentage of
students who are specially
gifted in the field."
Arnold Arons in "Teaching Introductory Physics" (p. vii, 1997)

REFERENCES [URL's shortened by <http://bit.ly/> and accessed on 25 Feb 2012.]
Arons, A.B. 1997. "Teaching Introductory Physics." Wiley. Amazon.com
information at <http://amzn.to/bBPfop>. Note the searchable "Look
Inside" feature.

Berrett, D. 2012a. "How 'Flipping' the Classroom Can Improve the
Traditional Lecture" Chronicle of Higher Education, 19 Feb; online at
<http://bit.ly/xKYX8h>.

Hake, R.R. 2012. "Flipping the Classroom vs Traditional Lecture,"
online at <http://bit.ly/wYdWIl>. Post of 24 Feb 2012 19:51:14-0800
to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post
are being transmitted to several discussion lists and are also on my
blog "Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/y83WAz> with a provision for
comments.

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