Abstract

The idea of the “flipped classroom” is a relatively new concept in education that has become increasingly popular. Instructors who flip their classrooms reverse the roles of school work and homework by recording video lectures for students to watch before coming to class. Students then work on their homework in the classroom while the instructor is present to help them. Very little research has been done on the effectiveness of the flipped classroom to determine if students can perform better on exams by learning in a flipped classroom environment, especially for high school demographics. The purpose of this research is to add to the body of knowledge and help provide data to investigate how well students learn physics content by using the flipped classroom in a high school physics class and identify students' attitudes towards the flipped classroom. Seven periods of Physics with Technology at Lone Peak High School in Highland, UT were used in this study. Three of the classes were randomly assigned to be “flipped” while the other four were taught using what is considered a “traditional” method of instruction of physics, which is based on a guided inquiry method. The pacing and content was matched each day and all classes participated in the same labs, homework, quizzes and tests. The defining difference is the method which the content is covered. The flipped classes watched video lectures at home to learn the majority of the content, then did what is traditionally known as “homework” in class with the teacher present to help. In this study, it was found that there was no statistically or practically significant difference in mean test scores for the first three units in a high school Physics with Technology class. Student responses on a survey also showed very little statistically different in the students' attitudes towards the classroom environment in either instructional method.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology; Technology

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2015-03-01

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd7681

Keywords

flipped classroom, inverted, instruction, education

Language

english

Technology Emphasis

Technology Engineering Education (TEE)

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