A High School Finds Numerous Advantages to “Flipping” Math Classes

In this Kappan article, Maryland-based consultant Kathleen Fulton shares ten gains that teachers in a southern Minnesota school found with “flipped” math classes:

• Students can move at their own pace. “In a traditional classroom,” says Fulton, “the teacher lectures and demonstrates how to solve math problems during the constraints of the class period.” This is just right for some students, too slow for high achievers, and too fast for struggling students. In a flipped class, some students can watch the class “lecture” video quickly, others can play it several times.

• Teachers get better insight into student difficulties and learning styles. In a flipped classroom, the teacher can look over students’ shoulders as they work problems in class, explain and clarify, and nip problems in the bud. “The flexibility and real-time analysis allows for a true and immediate response to student needs,” says Fulton. 

• Teachers can customize and update the curriculum 24/7. There’s lots of good video material online, says Fulton, but teacher-created videos have a distinct advantage: “Students like having the voice behind the lesson belong to someone with whom they have a personal relationship. This connection strengthens the teacher-student bond that is so important for learning.” 

• Absent students can keep up. This keeps students from falling behind and saves teacher time creating extra lessons and homework.

• Students have access to multiple teachers’ expertise. In this Minnesota school, teachers move from one course to another and pool their instructional videos. Students can pick and choose depending on their teacher preferences and learning style.

• Teachers can use student results to pinpoint the best teaching approaches. “As they analyze student work, noting whose students are successful in which areas, they review each others’ videos to see how their colleagues taught the concepts, offering a window into each others’ teaching,” says Fulton. 

• Classroom time can be used more effectively and creatively. There’s less lecturing and more explaining. “Students learn by doing, and in the flipped classroom, the doing is happening within a hand-raise of the teacher,” says Fulton. “Teachers can use class time to make meaningful contact with students, observing, guiding, and helping.” 

• Parents have a window into the coursework. Parents can watch the videos and get a refresher on math they may have forgotten. But there’s less pressure for them to help their children on homework since most of the work is done in class. 

• Flipping improves achievement, interest, and engagement in higher-level math. Preliminary data indicate that flipped classrooms are producing markedly better results than traditional classes, says Fulton.

• Learning theory supports the new approach. Video instruction is chunked into manageable units. Students must constantly assess their understanding of material and build their thinking skills. Students apply new knowledge in class and get immediate feedback. Students often view homework videos with peers, and much classwork is done in teams, which takes advantage of social learning. 

• The use of technology is a good fit for 21^st-century students. Allowing students to bring their own devices to school has saved the school $185,000 a year. For the three percent of students who didn’t have access to high-speed Internet at home, the school put lessons on DVDs or flash drives. 

• Students like flipped classrooms. Before and after surveys revealed very positive reactions to this new homework/classwork dynamic. 

“10 Reasons to Flip” by Kathleen Fulton in Phi Delta Kappan, October 2012 (Vol. 94, #2, p. 20-24), http://www.kappanmagazine.org; Fulton is at kathleenpfulton@gmail.com.

From the Marshall Memo #457