Harvey
Mudd College’s ongoing controlled experiment on flipped classrooms is entering its
third year since its initiation in 2012. According to papers submitted about
the experiment, the results for the past two years have shown no significant
differences in learning between a flipped class and a traditional class.
In
a flipped, or inverted, classroom, students watch video lectures outside of class
and work on problem sets together in class.
Three
professors at HMC have led the study: Nancy Lape, associate professor of engineering and associate
department chair; Rachel Levy, associate professor of mathematics; and Darryl
Yong, associate professor of mathematics. They
experimented through the Engineering 82 and Math 45 classes, with half of the
sections designed as control sections taught in a traditional classroom style and
the other half taught in an inverted style. The experiment aims to compare
students’ content levels and carry out attitude surveys across different treatment
and control sections.
“We believe it is important to run controlled studies when determining the effectiveness of any given teaching technique, and equally important to consider the context in which the study takes place,” Lape wrote in an email to TSL.
According
to papers by Lape and her colleagues, the control and flipped sections showed no significant
differences in learning, metacognitive or affective gains. Lape wrote that reasons for this result could be that “the
HMC culture is already heavily focused on group work” and that “the activities
carried out by both sections were basically identical.”
“We
think it is possible that at commuter schools, the group work time in the flipped
classroom might result in a difference in learning,” Lape wrote.
The
lack of experience in teaching flipped classrooms could have been another reason.
“We
personally had a lot of experience delivering interactive lectures but not much
experience in designing flipped classes,” Lape wrote.
Students
in flipped classrooms had differing opinions toward this new way of teaching. Joshua
Ryan Lam HM ’17 spoke favorably of the strategy.
“It
basically forces you to review the concepts beforehand, and then you can kind of
form your own questions, and you can talk to the prof … as opposed to
you go to the class, you do the lecture, and there’s no time for questions or
anything,” Lam said.
Lam,
however, added that if he forgot to watch the lectures, he felt “completely lost” in class.
Aaron Friend HM ’17 said that he did not like the program.
“I might be prejudiced because I’d already taken
Intro to Differential Equation in high school, so I already knew a lot of the
material, but I felt like the way it was presented with the flipped lecture
notes kind of trivialized the material,” he said. “After being experienced with my math
classes in general, I felt like it definitely took a giant step down in terms
of quality.”
Friend added that in his non-flipped classes, he felt that he accomplished more than students in corresponding flipped classes.
While Arthur Chang HM ’16 said his flipped class was not as productive as he expected, he noted, “I
really like the fact that we have access to lectures online because we can stop
and go back to the parts we don’t understand.”
He also cited the difference between subjects as a reason why some students liked
certain classes and not others.
“It
actually has something to do with the subject because I didn’t really have
many questions [in Math 45], but if my current chemistry class is flipped, I
would have a lot of questions for the professor,” Chang said. “So I think it also has
something to do with the material.”
Lape wrote that class subject might factor into the success of the method, but the professors do not have the data to attest to this. Lape, Levy and Yong will continue the flipped classroom experiment for two more academic years.
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