Flipping a Classroom for Academically Talented Students

Abstract

In flipped classrooms, students learn course content by watching flipped lessons (videos) outside of class time. During class, instructors guide learning by answering questions, facilitating projects, and fostering relationships with students. Although flipped classrooms are gaining popularity in secondary school settings, most research is performed with college-age samples. In this study, we compared two sections of a summer-based cognitive neuroscience course for academically talented youth: a flipped class and a class with traditional face-to-face instruction. Measures of academic achievement did not differ between the classes. The flipped class spent more time watching and re-watching lessons than the traditional class spent reading texts. Students rated organization, clarity, and enjoyment significantly higher in the traditional class. Despite these findings, the majority of students in both classes requested flipped lessons in the future. These results can inform how to flip classrooms for highly motivated secondary school students.