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How I flipped my class without even knowing it.
(and also
incorporated ÒJust in time TeachingÓ and ÒPeer InstructionsÓ)
Soon after graduating with M.S. In
theoretical physics from Perm State University (one of the top Russian research
universities) I joined the physics department at Perm Polytechnic Institute
(one of the top Russian technical universities) as an assistant professor. At
first, I was teaching introductory labs. The next year I started to teach a
general physics course.
The first thing I did I ÒflippedÓ the
course.
At the time I did not have any intension
to go into physics education research, I did not read any literature, I did not
know any terminology, I did not know what I did, and that it called ÒflippingÓ,
I just wanted to do a good job. And I wanted to know if the job I did was good.
So, I needed to establish my own teaching goals and tools to measure the level
of their achievement.
I thought that how deep was studentsÕ
understanding of the fundamental concepts would correlate with the level they
mastered a skill of solving problems (the level difficulty of the problems they
solve within certain topics).
To learn how to solve problems one has to
have an extensive experience of solving problems (same as to learn how to swim,
or to ride a bicycle).
So, I decided to focus on problem solving.
Of course, no one can solve any problem
without having a certain level of preparation.
To
learn how to solve problems one has to be taught how to solve problems.
In physics one has to know definitions and
laws and be able to do some math (more at What does Òthinking as a physicistÓ mean?).
I went to the institution library and selected a most abundant physics
textbook, and the most abundant book with a collection of physics problems, so
every student in my class could borrow them from the library.
I took a calendar and counted all
lectures, discussions and laboratory hours for the semester. Then I planned
several review lectures to cover large portions of the content including
problem solving examples (they would take about 25 % of the total lecture
time). I planned laboratory exercises. The rest of the lecture hours and all
discussion hours I designated for making students solving problems under my
guidance.
I set the condition that an average
student should spend about 15 minutes per an average problem. Then I increased
this number by a fifth (or 20 %) to account for any unforeseen events. The
final calculation (total time on problem solving divided by the time per a
problem) gave me the number I was looking for, 160, the number of problems I
needed to assign for one semester to each student to solve.
Then I read all the problems in the book (that took quite some time) and
selected 160 which I thought were the most important
to learn by an engineering major student, divided them between the lecture and
discussion hours. Then I read the full textbook and selected specific pages,
chapters, paragraphs students would have to read before each class. Then I made a calendar specifying which pages
about what topics students had to read before the given day, what definitions
and laws they had to memorize, and what problem-solving examples they had to
study.
At the beginning of each discussion or a
Òdiscussion lectureÓ I would test what students read by asking direct questions
or giving a short quiz. Then students would spend the rest of the class working
on the problems (assigned to this meeting according to the calendar); if they
had a question they would call me, if they solved a problem, they would call me
to check it (for each student I kept track of the progress). If I had a
suspicion a student did not do the work or did not grasp the concept behind a
problem I asked questions probing student's reasoning.
At that time no one had an email or access
to the Internet, but students could come to my office hours or leave a note in
my mailbox asking to clarify on the upcoming Òdiscussion lectureÓ some concepts
from the textbook (ÒJust In Time TeachingÓ). During the problem-solving
sessions students could discuss with each other their work (ÒPeer
InstructionsÓ), but every student had to demonstrate his or her individual
solution.
N.B. When I started using this approach in
small college, on the first day a girl told me that she could never solve any
physics problem and it would be wasting of time trying to teach her. I just
asked to give it a try. I remember when the first time she was walking to me
with her notebook to show her work; her posture and gestures told me Òhere, you
made me do it, but I told you it would not workÓ, she
was convinced that her solution was wrong. But it wasnÕt! It was correct! You
cannot imagine how exited she was when I told her she was absolutely correct!
You could see the change from ÒWhatever, itÕs all just the waste of timeÓ to ÒI
donÕt believe it, I can do this!Ó
At Perm Polytechnic Institute we had two
midterms and a final where I tested studentsÕ ability to solve problems. And I
really liked how things worked out.
Soon I added high school and middle school
classes, and later a college (yeas, I was very busing teaching at all possible
levels). Before beginning each new course, I went through the same procedure,
and I never had any doubts about it. It worked. It worked for me, and I believe
it worked for students, too (I had never collected any official feedback from
students besides the grades, but I had a lot of positive feedback on a personal
level, even from students who did not do very well grade-wise; after I moved to
the U.S. I was teaching mostly traditionally, but with the elements of my
Russian approach, and also have had mostly positive student feedback).
Gradually I shifted from teaching to
research on teaching. Only years later I have learned the name of what I did
– Òflipped classroomÓ.
When I moved to the US. I found technologies which allowed offering students videos or
computer simulations (in addition to reading a textbook, which is still the
only abundant resource many Russian students can find). However, as many other
adjuncts, I usually stick to an old fashion lecture-lab-discussion format (with
some appropriate modifications), which also works fine it you do it right (the
official name for this type of teaching is ÒDirect InstructionsÓ: http://www.nifdi.org/)
Based on my successful experience, I say
that there is no mystery in how to flip
a course. Anyone
who has time and willing to put some effort in changing his/her teaching can do
what I did, the recipe will work.
Saying this, I also want to share my
doubts about making students watching short videos instead of making them
reading a textbook (I mean, before lectures).
There is a common concern that kids do not
read enough, and that that leads to various negative results.
Watching ÒMuch Ado About NothingÓ movie
clearly requires less mental work than reading the play, and especially than
analyzing the play after the reading.
Offering videos is like offering
cliff-notes. It seems like giving up on making student working hard: ÒYou guys
are not going to read the book anyway, flipping the cliff-notes is better than
nothing, you know what, just watch the movie, it is even easierÓ.
I do not believe this approach would lead
to better studentsÕ outcomes.
But it does make a teacherÕs life simpler.
So, this Òvideo approachÓ is not about
students, it is about a teacher. And when a teacher uses it, he or she knows
why he or she wants to use it.
In order to make this approach to lead to
better studentsÕ outcomes, a teacher needs to keep in mind that it will not
happen because of the videos, but because it would make a teacher work harder
for using those videos in a class (otherwise it would be just an imitation
– mimicking – of activities which look a lot like a new kind of
teaching, a.k.a. innovation, but in the end would be just a fog to cover É
thirst for fame? wish to look like others? fear to be fired? a race to a
promotion?).
During my following years I have developed
many additional instruments for teaching physics and helping teachers to teach
better, such as:
What Math Skills
do Physics Students Need to Have?
Who and why
should learn physics?
A General
ÒAlgorithmÓ for Creating a Solution to a Physics Problem.
What does Òthinking as a
physicistÓ mean?
Learning aides for students
taking physics.
What is the mission of education (as a
human practice)?
What does a Teacher need to know about a
Brain?
What is the
difference between a science and a religion? Really.
Fundamental Laws
of TeachOlogy: a Handbook For a Beginner Teacher.
Facilitating
In-Service Teacher Training for Professional Development - my chapter is out!
ÒBecoming a STEM
Teacher: a handbook for beginner teacherÓ
How much of ÒcyberÓ in ÒcyberlearningÓ and "cyberthinking"?
What is
teaching? What is learning? Why Physics? Professional
philosophy of a STEM teacher.
Dr. Valentin Voroshilov
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