You are on page 1of 10

Running head: FLIPPED CLASSROOMS

Effects of a Flipped Classroom on Elementary School Students

Arturo Aviles

Elva Fanty

Susan Moss

Sarah Pentony

California State University San Bernardino

ETEC 543

Dr. Amy Leh

December 6th, 2015


FLIPPED CLASSROOMS
2
Introduction

A new approach to learning has made great strides in the field of education.

Flipped classrooms are receiving a lot of attention and quickly becoming a new learning

style in which students foster their own learning. A flipped classroom is an instructional

design method in which students receive the lecture aspect of a lesson at home and work

collaboratively, conduct research, and complete tasks during class (Roehl, Reddy,

Shannon, 2013). While there is a lot of interest in flipped classrooms, the learning

approach is still a relatively new concept.

Districts close to the researchers, Desert Sands Unified School District and

Coachella Valley Unified School District, are starting to employ flipped classrooms.

These school districts, and their employees, will serve as the base for data collection, in

the forms of observation, interview, and survey, for this research project.

This proposal seeks to examine the possible effects of a flipped classroom on

elementary school students. The literature review section of the proposal details flipped

classrooms and the effects that have been seen in such classrooms. The methodology

section previews how the research would be conducted, ie. through surveys and

interviews with teachers from both Coachella Valley Unified and Desert Sands Unified.

Both the interview questions and survey questions can be found in the appendix portion

of the proposal. There are many arguments that flipped classrooms have positive effects

on student engagement and participation in the classroom. This proposal seeks to find

additional benefits of a flipped classroom, as well as the risks involved.

Literature Review
FLIPPED CLASSROOMS
3
For this project several articles were read and analyzed, in an effort to learn the

effects of flipped classrooms in elementary schools. The articles covered the pros and

cons of a flipped classroom, some for the college level and some at the elementary level.

They provided a better understanding of the benefits and challenges of the flipped

classroom in general. Since the focus of this research proposal is at the elementary level,

the articles reviewed were those that most greatly impacted the research.

In the article, The Flipped Classroom: An Opportunity to Engage Millennial

Students Through Active Learning Strategies written by Roehl, Reddy, & Shannon, the

need to be active learners was emphasized. It is suggested that flipped classrooms

allowed students the time they needed to focus on skill development, rather than lecture

based learning. The studies referenced in this article proved that student engagement and

success rates increased. Students were more likely to collaborate effectively with their

peers to complete set assignments. (Roehl, Reddy, & Shannon, 2013).

The cons of the flipped classroom, as stated in the article written by Roehl,

Reddy, & Shannon, were centered around the set up for the flipped classroom. Some

specifics mentioned in the article are the adaptability of the lessons to electronic lessons

and the responsibility and self-motivation among the students in the classrooms (Roehl,

Reddy, & Shannon, 2013). The article, How Children Regulate Their Own Collaborative

Learning written by Dekker, Elshout-Mohr, & Wood, suggested that young students can

collaborate within the classroom and take accountability for their learning. Dekker,

Elshout-Mohr, & Wood conducted research using a third grade classroom. Their results

showed that even young children can hold each other accountable when trying to

complete a task.
FLIPPED CLASSROOMS
4
After reading about the different types of research and the different ages and

grade levels that were used in the research, a better understanding has been developed

about the benefits and challenges of the flipped classroom. Since the focus of this

research proposal is on the elementary level classroom, further research needs to be

conducted to answer deeper level questions.

Methodology

Research Questions:

What are the effects of flipped classrooms in elementary schools?


Are flipped classrooms academically beneficial to students?
Do flipped classrooms have benefits for low-income students?
Does peer-assisted learning benefit students in the classroom versus traditional lecture?

To answer our research questions we will take numerous steps to select our

subjects. The subjects of our research project will be teachers and students and the

selection process will be as follows:

There are 19 elementary schools in the Desert Sands Unified School District and 14

elementary schools in the Coachella Valley Unified School District. To make the

selection of schools random, we will number the list of elementary schools in the Desert

Sands Unified School District 1-19 by alphabetical order; 1 being the first school by

alphabetical order and 19 being the last school by alphabetical order. We will do the same

for Coachella Valley Unified School District but this time we will start from the number

20 and end with the number 33; the first school by alphabetical order will be 20 and the

last school by alphabetical order will be 33. We will make a list of 33 total schools and

utilize a random number generator from the website www.random.org to pick out a total

of 20 schools to help us collect data for our research project.


FLIPPED CLASSROOMS
5
After randomly selecting 20 schools within the two school districts, we will send

a survey via email to their administrators. The school principals, for some cases, vice

principles, of the 20 randomly selected schools will be the first to complete the survey

and approve of our research project for further analysis of their school teachers and

flipped classrooms. After the administrators have completed the survey, we will send the

survey to all of their teachers to complete via email as well. The survey section of our

research project will take approximately 30 days to complete; from January 1, 2016, to

February 1, 2016. After all surveys are completed, we will then exercise a mixed method

research design to analyze the data collected. Our analysis of the data will begin by using

a quantitative method. We will create bar graphs and pie charts to help with our analysis

of the data. After our quantitative analysis is done, we will create a word document and

color code our data obtained; this will help us with our qualitative analysis of the data.

After analyzing the data collected from the surveys, we will separate the teachers and

administrators into 2 groups. Group 1 will consist of teachers and administrators with

flipped classroom experience and Group 2 will consist of teachers and administrators

with no flipped classroom experience. Group 1 will continue to the second phase of our

research project, while Group 2 will be dismissed and thanked for their participation in

the survey via email.

The second phase of our research will consist of interviews that will be face to

face and will take place at each school site. Administrators will interview in their own

office and teachers in their own classrooms. The selection of subjects for the interviews

from Group 1, will also go through a random selection process. We will gather and list all

names in alphabetical order then number them as we did for the random selection of
FLIPPED CLASSROOMS
6
schools. We will again utilize a random number generator and select 20 total teachers to

interview. There are 4 researchers in the project, each researcher will be responsible for

conducting 5 interviews. The interview process will take approximately 30 days to

complete starting on February 2, 2016. When the interview process is completed, we will

collect the data and analyze it by using a qualitative research method; we will categorize

our data and color code through a word document. After the qualitative analysis is

complete, it will take approximately 10 days for researchers to provide a

recommendation.
FLIPPED CLASSROOMS
7
References

Blatchford, P., Baines, E., Rubie-Davies, C., Bassett, P., & Chowne, A. (2006). The effect
of a new approach to group work on pupil-pupil and teacher-pupil interactions.
Journal Of Educational Psychology, 98(4), 750-765. doi:10.1037/0022-
0663.98.4.750

Butzler, K. (2015). The effects of motivation on achievement and satisfaction in a flipped


classroom learning environment. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A:
Humanities and Social Sciences, 76(2-A(E)).

Dekker, R., Elshout-Mohr, M., & Wood, T. (2006). How children regulate their own
collaborative learning. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 62(1), 57-79.
doi:10.1007/s10649-006-1688-4.

Enfield, J. (2013). Looking at the impact of the flipped classroom model of instruction
on undergraduate multimedia students at csun. TechTrends: Linking Research &
Practice to Improve Learning, 57(6), 14-27.

Fuchs, L. S., Fuchs, D., Yazdian, L., & Powell, S. R. (2002). Enhancing first-grade
children's mathematical development with peer-assisted learning strategies.
School Psychology Review, 31(4), 569-83.

Fulton, K. (2012). 10 reasons to flip. Phi Delta Kappan, 94(2), 20-24.

Gullen, K., & Zimmerman, H. (2013). Saving time with technology. Educational
Leadership, 70(6), 63-66.

Hodges, T. S., & Weber, N. D. (2015). Making heads or tails of classroom flipping.
Kappa Delta Pi Record, 51(2), 57-63.

Mattis, K. (2015). Flipped classroom versus traditional textbook instruction: Assessing


accuracy and mental effort at different levels of mathematical complexity.
Technology, Knowledge and Learning: Learning Mathematics, Science and the
Arts in the Context of Digital Technologies, 20(2), 231-248.

Roehl, A., Reddy, S. L., & Shannon, G. J. (2013). The flipped classroom: An opportunity
to engage millennial students through active learning strategies. Journal of
Family and Consumer Sciences, 105(2), 44-49.

Rohrbeck, C. A., Ginsburg-Block, M. D., Fantuzzo, J. W., & Miller, T. R. (2003). Peer-
assisted learning interventions with elementary school students: A meta-analytic
review. Journal Of Educational Psychology, 95(2), 240-257. doi:10.1037/0022-
0663.95.2.240.
FLIPPED CLASSROOMS
8

Appendix A
Technology Use and Flipped Classrooms Initial Survey
1. What is your job title?

2. How many years of experience do you have working in the school system?
0-2
3-5
6-10
11-15
16 and above
3. How often do you use technology in your classroom?
Multiple times a day
Daily
Weekly
Very rarely
Not applicable
4. Do you know what a flipped classroom is?
Yes
No
5. Have you participated in a flipped classroom?
Yes
No
6. What are your feelings surrounding flipped classrooms?

7. What benefits could you expect to see out of a flipped classroom?


FLIPPED CLASSROOMS
9

8. What are possible drawbacks of a flipped classroom?

9. What trainings and supports would you need to run a flipped classroom?

10. Would you want to run a flipped classrooms?


Yes
Possibly
No
11. What are the proficiency levels of your English Learners?

12. What role do English Learners play in the classroom?

13. How do Title 1 students perform on weekly assignments?

14. How do Title 1 students interact in the classroom?

15. What are the mean grade in your class for Language Arts, Writing, Math?

16. What role do GATE students have in your classroom?


FLIPPED CLASSROOMS
10
The following are the questions that will be used as a basis for our in person interviews:
What are the proficiency levels of your English Learners? (so we can compare
them to traditional classroom ELs.
What role do English Learners play in the classroom?
What results have you seen by incorporating peer-assisted learning into the
classroom, rather than traditional lecture?
How do Title 1 students perform on weekly assignments?
How do Title 1 students interact in the classroom?
What are the mean grade in your class for Language Arts, Writing, Math?
What role do GATE students have in your classroom?
What benefits have you seen in the classroom based on the flipped classroom
design?
What is the greatest effect the flipped classroom has had on your classroom?

You might also like