A key element of the flipped classroom is what activities instructors facilitate in the face-to-face classroom. In this page you can consider ways of transforming your face-to-face classroom. This can range from supplementing the lecture with active learning activities to implementing an approach such as Team-based and Problem-based learning.
Classroom activities are typically cooperative, active and focused on learner engagement. Examples of approaches and activities include, Team-based learning, Problem-based learning, Peer Instruction and variations of active and cooperative learning activities.
Active Learning
Active learning is a approach whereby students engage in activities, such as reading, writing, discussion, or problem solving that promote analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of class content.
Key Resources
Millis, Barbara J (2011). Active Learning in the Face-to-Face Classroom, Idea Paper, 53. The University of Texas at San Antonio: This article explores the research, defines active learning, discusses its value, offers suggestions for implementing it, and provides six concrete examples of active learning approaches.
Paulson & Faust (2001) Active Learning for the College Classroom. California State University, Retrieved from http://web.calstatela.edu/dept/chem/chem2/Active/main.htm: This article describes different Active learning strategies and techniques.
Peer Instruction
Peer Instruction (PI) is an approach developed by Eric Mazur in the context of physics instruction in the early 1990s. In PI classrooms the lecture is interspersed with conceptual questions that are designed to expose common conceptual difficulties with understanding the material. Students initially work on their own to formulate answers and then discuss the answers in groups or pairs.
Key Resources
Peer Instruction description developed by the Mazur group describes the basics of PI
Crouch C., Mazur, E. (2000) Peer Instruction: 10 years of experience and results. Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
This study describes the PI approach used by Mazur and Crouch and provides 10-years of research on student satisfaction and learning gains measures with a forced concept inventory.
Team-based Learning
Team-based learning is an instructional strategy “that is designed to a) support the development of high performance teams b) Provide opportunities for those teams to engage in significant learning tasks (Michaelsan).
Key Resources
Team-based Learning, Group Work that works: Introduction to TBL from the University of Texas
Team-Based Learning: A Transformative Use of Small Groups in College Teaching. Edited by Larry K. Michaelsen, Arletta Bauman Knight and L. Dee Fink. (2002)
Problem-based Learning
Problem-based learning is an approach and method that “consists of carefully designed problems that challenge students to use problem solving techniques, self-directed learning strategies, team participation skills, and disciplinary knowledge.”
Key Resources
University of Delaware Guide to Problem-Based Learning: Links to articles, books, conferences, sample PBL problems, sample courses and syllabi, and other PBL sites.
Read more research and examples of strategies and approaches for designing effective classroom activities.