Active Learning Strategies in the Flipped Classroom Approach

Introduction

In a standard lesson, it is crucial that the teacher decides what to do with in-class time in order to create a meaningful learning environment for students. The replacement of passive learning (listening) with active learning techniques is at the heart of the success of the flipped classroom (FC). In the FC technique, learning material is delivered before classroom time (through video lectures, for example), and classroom time is used to enhance understanding of that material, usually through interactive group activities (Bergmann & Sams, 2012; Bishop & Verleger, 2013). Many researchers have suggested that the successes of the FC can be attributed to the nature of the class activities rather than the video lectures, which is why learning and teaching practices in the classroom are often considered the most important component of flipped learning (Chen et al., 2016).

Active learning recognizes that people learn best from experience and that students learn little by sitting in the class listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments and rehearsing answers. Active learning operates on the principle that students learn more by engaging in a learning activity than when they are passive recipients of information presented to them. The students will talk about the learning, write on the subject, link it to past experiences and apply it to their everyday life (Bergmann & Sams, 2012; Keengwe, 2014). The benefits of active learning were supported by Freeman et al.’s (2014) meta-analysis of 225 papers which had reported data comparing the performance of students in undergraduate STEM courses using active learning in standard teaching for examination scores or failure rates. They observed that active learning had a greater impact on the ability to master higher than lower-level cognitive skills. Furthermore, substantial evidence has shown that active teaching strategies have a beneficial effect on test results and on lowering failure rates (Miller & Metz, 2014). In the FC environment, because the lecture is delivered out of the classroom, students have more time, make mistakes and engage in disorganized learning. They are therefore active participants in the classroom activities and become more responsible for their learning outside the classroom. This approach also helps lower-achieving students, who often struggle to learn in traditional classrooms but have a chance to succeed when there are varied learning activities. Research has indicated the importance of active learning, especially in raising learner and minority success rates (Miller & Metz, 2014; Freeman et al., 2014). In short, students have more time to take part in a dynamic learning experience and actively participate in their own learning when the lecture no longer takes place in the classroom. In the FC, videos are assigned as homework, therefore students have greater learning autonomy since they can watch the content at their own convenience and as many times as they want, which boosts their understanding of the materials presented.