What is it?

A study looking at the relationship between how students feel about the flipped classroom model and their learning outcomes.

What problem does it aim to solve?

“Many reports in dental education showed that student learning improved with the flipped classroom method. However, there are few reports that describe how different subsets of students may benefit from the flipped classroom.” The researchers aimed to test the hypothesis that students who preferred the flipped classroom style did better on quizzes.

How does it work?

The researchers used a flipped classroom module used to teach first-year DDS students, and then analyzed their performance on the quizzes and their written assignments, as well as the time they spent studying and discussing the course materials and topics.

What are the findings?

Guided self-study that includes work that needs to be submitted strongly correlates with better academic performance in the course. “Students’ self-evaluated understanding of content significantly improved after finishing the assignment and discussion compared to finishing the pre-class activity alone…Our results indicated that students favoring the flipped classroom method spent more time on the assignment, understood the content better, and performed better on assessments than students who prefer traditional lectures.”

What are the next steps?

Educators designing courses for professional students that include the flipped classroom method need to prioritize including components that engage students and require them to do some work throughout the course to demonstrate what they’ve learned.

Source

Xiao, Nan, Der Thor, and Meixun Zheng. 2021. "Student Preferences Impact Outcome of Flipped Classroom in Dental Education: Students Favoring Flipped Classroom Benefited More", Education Sciences 11, no. 4: 150. 

Authors

Nan Xiao, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, University of the Pacific, San Francisco

Der Thor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, University of the Pacific, San Francisco

Meixun Zheng, Academic Affairs, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, University of the Pacific, San Francisco