This project was inspired by my PhD dissertation and my desire to better understand why some of the flipped classroom conditions performed worse than those who learned using lecture classroom instruction. Recognizing that the cognitive processes explain how people learn (Yan et al, 2024) I chose to look at a few studies that resulted in the highest and lowest effect sizes in my dissertation and investigate in more detail. The highest effect sizes showed the studies with greatest positive effect of the flipped classroom on achievement in higher education. The lowest (negative) effects showed the studies with the most negative effect of the flipped classroom compared to the lecture condition.
The study with the highest effect size g = +1.50 indicated that pharmacy students in the flipped classroom group found there was an overwhelming amount of pre-class preparation time required, such as video lectures of 90 minutes to 2 hours (Wong et al, 2014, p4), while the study with the lowest effect size of g = -0.66 indicated that all pre-class time work in the flippped classroom condition could be done by the majority of the doctoral veterinary students in less than 20 minutes (including the video, reading, and quiz) (Moffett et al, 2014). This example may indicate that the amount of pre-class work could have a real impact on achievement and learning in higher education. Finding the right balance of pre-class preparation work required may be a factor in the success or failure of the flipped classroom approach. In these studies, too much pre-class work resulted in greater achievement than too little. As it relates to the cognitive processes, the abundance of pre-class work gave more opportunities for all noted cognitive processes: attention to essential structures and features; spaced repetition; and successful, effortful retrieval from long-term memory.
In case you are wondering, these two effect sizes were not outliers because the one-study-removed approach confirmed that removing each one did not impact the average effect size of the meta-analysis.
I will continue to explore the studies of the highest and lowest effect sizes to gain further insights into how the cognitive processes impact the implementation of the flipped classroom.
References
Moffett, J., & Mill, A. C. (2014). Evaluation of the flipped classroom approach in a veterinary professional skills course. Advances in Medical Education and Practice, 5, 415-425. http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/amep.s70160
Wong, T. H., Ip, E. J., Lopes, I., & Rajagopalan, V. (2014). Pharmacy students’ performance and perceptions in a flipped teaching pilot on cardiac arrhythmias. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 78(10), 1-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.5688/ajpe7810185
Yan, V. X., Sana, F., & Carvalho, P. F. (2024). No simple solutions to complex problems: Cognitive science principles can guide but not prescribe educational decisions. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 11(1), 59-66. https://doi.org/10.1177/23727322231218906
Reflection
There are people and situations around us who have shaped who we are, they inspire us to achieve and reflecting on their values can help us recognize our own. Please share with us somebody in your life who inspires you and what values or teachings you think they exhibit. Feel free to share a positive learning experience.
- Share a story or person in your community that inspires you.
- What values does this story or person exhibit?