Testing the flipped classroom with model-eliciting activities and video lectures in a mid-level undergraduate engineering course

This paper outlines an ongoing study of the flipped classroom with second and third-year undergraduate engineering students in a numerical methods course. The flipped classroom is a new pedagogical method, which employs asynchronous video lectures and practice problems as homework, and active, group-based problem-solving activities in the classroom. It represents the combination of learning theories once thought to be incompatible—active, problem-based learning activities founded upon constructivist ideals and instructional lectures derived from direct instruction methods founded upon behaviorist principles. Using a controlled quasi-experimental research design, we conduct a study with a full 15-week numerical methods course at Utah State University during the spring semester of 2013. Students in the experimental section completed model-eliciting activities inside the classroom and video lectures and homework outside the classroom. Students in the control section completed homework outside the classroom and group lectures inside the classroom. The two groups will be compared using scores from homework, examinations, and a sixteen-question numerical methods conceptual pre- post- test pair. The three main features that distinguish this study from previous research are: 1) This is a controlled study; 2) This study examines student performance on objective measures; 3) This study uses model-eliciting activities in the experimental classroom.