Presentation given at the University of Denver Mathematics Department, October 25, 2013. Be sure to check the notes for links about the examples seen in the slides.
2. Warm-Up
Considering that a tiny acorn can grow into a
mighty oak tree, which of the following
contributes the majority of the mass of the
tree?
A. Soil
B. Air
C. Water
D. Sunlight
7. Before Class
Class Time
After Class
(Asynchronous)
(Synchronous)
(Asynchronous)
Transfer
Assimilate
Traditional Approach
Transfer
Assimilate
Flipped Approach
8. Before Class
Class Time
After Class
(Asynchronous)
(Synchronous)
(Asynchronous)
Transfer
Assimilate
Traditional Approach
First
Exposure
Practice &
Feedback
Flipped Approach
9. Before Class
Class Time
After Class
(Asynchronous)
(Synchronous)
(Asynchronous)
Transfer
Assimilate
Traditional Approach
First
Exposure
Practice &
Feedback
Flipped Approach
Further
Exploration
12. Practice & Feedback – Clicker
Questions
Three cards are placed in a hat—one card is blue on both
sides, one is red on both sides, and one has a blue side and a
red side. A card is drawn at random from the hat and you see
that one side is blue. What’s the probability that the other
side is blue?
A.
B.
C.
D.
1/3
1/2
2/3
3/4
13. Further Exploration – Problem Sets
The historical probabilities that a birth event results in
identical or fraternal twins are about 1/300 and 1/125,
respectively. Given that Elvis Presley had a twin brother
who died at birth, what is the probability that Elvis was an
identical twin? Assume that boys are as likely to be born,
in general, as girls. (Hint: This is the same probability that
a birth event results in identical twin boys given that we
know it results in twin boys.)
21. Instructor Poses
Question (<1 Min)
Students Answer
Independently
(1-3 Min)
Peer
Instruction
Instructor Views
Results (<1 Min)
If Most Answer
Correctly,
Briefly Discuss
Question (1-3 Min)
If Most Answer
Incorrectly,
Backtrack (5+ Min)
If Students Are Split,
Have Students Discuss
in Pairs and Revote
(1-5 Min)
Instructor Leads
Classwide Discussion
(2-15 Min)
22. Misconception Questions
Your sister calls to say she’s having twins.
Which of the following is more likely? (Assume
she’s not having identical twins.)
A. Twin boys
B. Twin girls
C. One girl and one boy
D. All are equally likely.
24. Synthesis Questions
True or False: If A is an m x n matrix, then the dimension of
the row space of A plus the dimension of the nullspace of A
equals n.
27%
32%
18%
23%
A.
B.
C.
D.
True – High Confidence
True – Low Confidence
False – Low Confidence
False – High Confidence
Actual response data from last week!
35. Derek Bruff
@derekbruff / derekbruff.org
derek.bruff@vanderbilt.edu
Flickr (CC) Photo Credits
• "Oak Tree," MunstiSue
• “mentos + diet coke,” the Cobras
• “final exam” (flipped), dcJohn
• “Super 8,” Eric Hart
• “Stats,” Derek Bruff
• “Numbers,” Luis Argerich
• “Chain of Addiction,” Evan Leeson
•
•
•
•
•
•
“College Halls,” Derek Bruff
“Little Shredder,” clappstar
“IMG_9936e2,” Abby Bischoff
“Skates,” marythom
“Spiral out, keep going,” Tawcan
“The Calm After the Show,” Thomas
Hawk
Editor's Notes
See also “The Flipped Classroom FAQ,” http://www.cirtl.net/node/7788.
The traditional approach to structuring learning in and out of class, using Eric Mazur’s terminology. Class time is spend transferring information from professor to student, typically via lecture. After class, students assimilate that information by working through problem sets. Note that this framework has the most resonance with math, science, and engineering courses, although it’s often used in lecture-based courses in other disciplines, too.
As Mazur argues, the assimilation step is the harder of the two, so why not shift that to class time, when everyone (instructors and students) is around to help? This requires shifting the transfer step before class, typically by having students read textbooks or watch lecture videos. Note that lecture videos might be created by the instructor, but they might also be ones created by other instructors. This approach has come to be called the “flipped” or “inverted” classroom. (See http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/teaching-guides/teaching-activities/flipping-the-classroom/ for some of the history of these terms.)
The flipped classroom usually refers to an actual classroom, but the ideas translate just as well to online education, as long as you think of the “classroom” as synchronous activities that involve all the students.
Recently, there’s been some useful critique of the notion that the learning process should start with “transfer” activities, like reading textbooks and watching lecture videos. See http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/july/flipped-learning-model-071613.html for some initial research on this issue. Instead of “transfer,” perhaps it’s better to think of the before class activities in the flipped approach as “first exposure” to the content of the day. Barbara Walvoord and Virginia Johnson Anderson use this term in the book Effective Grading. Instead of “assimilate,” let’s be slightly more concrete and say “practice and feedback,” since we know that’s critical to student learning.
Finally, we should acknowledge that rarely does the learning process end when the bell rings. Students usually need time for further exploration with a topic after class is over. This can include tackling harder problems, studying for exams, and applying knowledge through papers and projects, among other options.There you have it: the flipped classroom framework for structuring student learning.
This example taken from the statistics course I taught in 2012. See http://derekbruff.org/blogs/math216/ for more information.
Also from http://derekbruff.org/blogs/math216/.
Screenshot from my first-year writing seminar blog: http://derekbruff.org/blogs/fywscrypto/