Research Background
The “flipped classroom” has gained prominence worldwide as a technology-supported pedagogical innovation (Song, et al., 2017). A flipped classroom is named as such because the learning process is “flipped” from its traditional scheme. Flipped classrooms refer to the practice of assigning lectures outside of class and devoting in-class teaching to a variety of learning activities (Delozier and Rhodes, 2016), such as online peer discussion, self-directed and group-based learning. Unlike the non-flipped classrooms, where instructors lecture in class and students take notes and complete their homework at home, the flipped classroom assisted with technologies (FCAT) “flips” in-class lectures with collaborative hands-on activities. Schema Theory lays emphasis on connecting new information with background knowledge, which is an indispensable part of teaching and learning. Based on Schema Theory, people associate input information with prior knowledge when understanding it. Carrell and Eisterhold (1983, p. 45) also pointed out that we depended on previous schemata to interpret new information.
Therefore, students can improve learning if the new information can interact with prior knowledge. FCAT equips students with a round of schema supplement and construction before class, imbuing students with necessary background knowledge related to the new information which will be learned in class. Classroom teaching is the process of cognitive development, the quintessence of which is schemata formation and variation. Thus, Schema Theory can be used to elucidate FCAT.
Though Schema Theory has not been adopted to explore FCAT previously, it has been applied to classroom teaching for a long time. This section will firstly discuss this theory in classroom teaching and the flipped pedagogical approach secondly.