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Student performance, engagement, and satisfaction in a flipped Statics and Mechanics of Materials classroom: A Case Study

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Conference

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Publication Date

August 23, 2022

Start Date

June 26, 2022

End Date

June 29, 2022

Conference Session

ERM: Instruction and Engagement

Page Count

16

DOI

10.18260/1-2--41110

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/41110

Download Count

228

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Paper Authors

biography

Rachel Sangree The Johns Hopkins University

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Rachel Sangree is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering, serving as the department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies and the Program Chair for Johns Hopkins' Engineering for Professionals (EP) program in Civil Engineering. Sangree earned her BS and MS degrees in Civil Engineering from Bucknell University, her PhD in Civil Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and she worked as a design engineer in the bridge group at Whitman, Requardt, and Associates, LLP in Baltimore, MD. She is a licensed professional engineer in the State of Maryland.

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Abstract

This paper presents a case study of the evidence-based practice of flipping a classroom. The flipped (or inverted) classroom has long been promoted as a method of improving student engagement in the classroom as it creates opportunities for active learning experiences during lecture time that would otherwise be consumed by passive instruction. A flipped classroom relies on students to independently prepare for class prior to the scheduled lecture time, typically by watching pre-lecture videos or by reading material assigned by the instructor. Having been exposed to the lecture material, synchronous class time can be used to complete active learning exercises in small groups with direct oversight and immediate feedback offered by the instructor.

At Johns Hopkins University, Statics & Mechanics of Materials has been taught using a traditional lecture-style instructional mode to civil, environmental, and mechanical engineering majors for many years. Aware of the documented benefits of the flipped classroom model, in 2019 the author created a library of pre-lecture videos and accompanying in-class learning exercises to experiment with this instructional mode. In 2020, when universities shifted to virtual instruction as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the author used these same materials to create an online version of the flipped classroom. Thus, over a three-year period, a single author teaching the same class with the same content and assessment methods collected data to evaluate the impacts of three different instructional modes on student performance, engagement, and satisfaction. In total, data from course evaluations, class attendance, and performance on final exams was collected from 213 students who took the course from 2018 to 2020. Consistent with the findings of previous studies, the data presented in this paper demonstrates that the flipped classroom results in greater student engagement and a higher level of student satisfaction with both the course and the instructor. The impact on student performance, however, is inconclusive, primarily due to the quasi-experimental nature of the study. Beyond presenting the results of the study, this paper will also describe the implementation of specific elements of the flipped and online flipped classrooms.

Sangree, R. (2022, August), Student performance, engagement, and satisfaction in a flipped Statics and Mechanics of Materials classroom: A Case Study Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41110

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