Inside the Flip

Abstract

In today's educational setting of state and federal mandates, teachers are looking for ways to increase student engagement and collaboration in their classrooms. New educational technologies have many teachers exploring the flipped classroom to meet those mandates. In flipped classrooms, educators flip direct instruction and traditional homework. Students might watch a video over a concept at home and then apply the concept to problems in class. For almost two decades, teachers have implemented and research has been conducted on the flipped model. Little of that research exists at grades 6-12, where the majority of teachers using it teach. This study looked inside the flipped classrooms of seven middle and high school teachers from subject areas including mathematics, science, Spanish, and social studies. Data for the study were collected through interviews, lesson plans and materials, as well as classroom observations in order to gain a full picture of the activities taking place inside of flipped classrooms. This study also looked at the teachers' motivations for using the model.