The Definition Of The Flipped Classroom

The Definition Of The Flipped Classroom

As one of the most popular trends in education in recent memory, you’ve undoubtedly heard of the flipped classroom. But what is it about a classroom that’s been flipped that makes it unique?

A flipped classroom is one where students are introduced to content at home, and practice working through it at school.

In this blended learning approach, face-to-face interaction is mixed with independent study via technology. Students watch pre-recorded videos at home, then come to school to do the homework armed with questions and at least some background knowledge.

The concept behind the flipped classroom is rethink when students have access to the resources they need most. If the problem is that students need help doing the work rather than being introduced to the new thinking behind the work, than the solution the flipped classroom takes is to reverse that pattern.

This doubles student access to teachers–once with the videos at home, and again in the classroom, increasing the opportunity for personalization and more precise guiding of learning. In the flipped classroom model, students practice under the guidance of the teacher, while accessing content on their own.

A side benefit is that teachers can record lectures that emphasize critical ideas, power standards, and even the pace of a given curriculum map. It also has the side benefit of allowing students to pause, rewind, Google terms, rewatch, etc., as well as creating a ready-made library for student review, make-up work, etc.

A Clarifying Image

But new thinking about how students learn is still thinking all the same–and below is an image from Sanne Bloemarts viacoetail.com that nicely summarizes the definition of the flipped classroom. One big takeaway? The students do homework at school.

Preview at home, practice at school.