Inquiry-Based Learning and the Flipped Classroom Model

Abstract

The flipped classroom model of teaching can be an ideal venue for turning a traditional classroom into an engaging, inquiry-based learning (IBL) environment. In this paper, we discuss how two instructors at different universities made their classrooms come to life by moving the acquisition of basic course concepts outside the classroom and using class time for active problem-based learning. Results from student surveys are presented to relate student perceptions of the flipped/IBL classroom model.     

Putting Field Education in Context

Abstract

The social work profession has become increasingly concerned about student indifference toward research and the scarcity of practitioner-initiated contributions to the field's present, and potential future knowledge base. Social work educators are seeking innovative teaching methods to promote student interest in, and understanding of research by requiring students to concurrently apply knowledge and skills acquired in the classroom with problems presently encountered by community practitioners. To generate student appreciation and enthusiasm for research, a service learning component was introduced in an undergraduate social work research methods course in collaboration with a local social service organization whose director served as the course's co-instructor. Outcomes from a post-study suggest that the course elements might make research less intimidating and more interesting, while making it more applicable to the real world.     

Ideological composition of the classroom: testing the effects of polarization on perceptions of open classroom climate among students in five countries

Abstract

This quantitative study tests the relationship between ideological classroom composition and perceptions of open classroom climate. Using data from the 2016 International Education Association’s International Civic and Citizenship Study, the study uses latent class analysis and multilevel regression modelling across five countries. First, latent class analysis identified students as low or high socioeconomic status. To assess ideological polarization, the gap between support for gender equality and ethnic rights was calculated between groups. Finally, a multilevel regression model measured the relationship between ideological polarization and students’ perception of open classroom climate. Across three countries, results found negative associations between increased polarization and perception of an open classroom climate. Additional testing identified that polarization modified the relationship between student socioeconomic status and perceptions of open classroom climate in Croatia.     

Comparing Student Evaluations of Distance Learning and Standard Classroom Courses in Graduate Social Work Education

Abstract

This study compared the student course evaluations of standard education and distance learning courses in the school of social work of one southern university. The sample included 14 distance learning (DL) and 122 standard education courses. A 20-item quantitative student course evaluation and a 7-item qualitative questionnaire were used to compare differences between social work courses taught in a standard classroom setting with those taught using distance learning technology. Comparisons of identical courses taught in both formats found that students rated distance learning higher than the standard classroom for a course having predominantly lecture content. Conversely, ratings for clinical practice courses were just the opposite with lower ratings for distance learning than the standard classroom. Results of a qualitative survey (n = 39) of students conducted at the end of a course taught by distance learning found that 73% of the students felt that distance learning technology interfered with class participation. However, 73% of the students felt the instructor handled technological problems in a professional and patient manner. Although 54% of the students reported that they would take another course by distance learning, more research is needed to determine what social work courses can be most effectively taught by distance and classroom formats.     

Climate change education in the humanities classroom: a case study of the Lowell school curriculum pilot

Abstract

Climate change as an instructional topic in K-12 schools is most frequently taught in the science classroom. However, it is a human issue requiring social as well as technological and scientific solutions. This study analyzes and evaluates a climate change curriculum implemented via an integrated social studies and language arts framework in a middle school classroom. The curriculum reflects collaboration between a private school, a climate education non-profit, and a government agency (NOAA). Following the first year of implementation, student surveys, teacher interviews, and classroom observations comprise the primary tools of data collection and evaluation. Based off these data, students demonstrate high levels of climate literacy, improvements in reading comprehension, and overall engagement with the topic. Teachers report successes and challenges of teaching the curriculum, and administrators offer opportunities for scaling and implementing the curriculum in other schools and contexts (including public schools). Findings from this study are relevant to climate change curriculum developers, researchers, and educators seeking to incorporate an interdisciplinary, socio-scientific approach to climate change education in their work.     

Research in an Educational Crisis

Abstract

A study was conducted to compare the relative effects of an every day, half-day, and an all-day, alternate day, kindergarten schedule on academic achievement, classroom social behavior, and attendance. Children (A = 99) attending a half-day schedule were compared to children (A = 98) attending an all-day schedule. No differences were found in entry developmental level. No significant differences were found on any achievement variables as measured by the Metropolitan Readiness Test or on attendance data. Of the 15 behavior factors measured by the Hahnemann School Behavior Rating Scale, only originality and independent learning differed significantly. Possible reasons for these differences, teachers' perceptions regarding the two schedules, and the implications of the results for kindergarten programming are discussed.     

Immersion Learning in Social Work Education: A Pedagogical Tool for Enriching Knowledge and Practice Skills among BSW Students

Immersion learning is one form of experiential education and has great utility in social work education. However, there is limited research on student learning outcomes from immersion learning courses in social work education. This ethnographic research describes an immersion learning course offered to BSW students (N = 9) and the learning outcomes gained. This semester-long course focused on macrolevel practice with people experiencing poverty, homelessness, and the sexual exploitation of women. As part of this course, students went on a weeklong immersion trip, where they visited a dozen human service organizations and interacted with people experiencing poverty and homelessness. Qualitative analysis produced three findings. First, students reported that these interactions helped them realize their biases and impacted their understanding of poverty. Second, students reported enhanced social work practice skills, such as cultural competency, self-awareness, and interpersonal expertise. They also gained a better appreciation for macrolevel practice. Third, students reported a better understanding of how to deploy classroom knowledge in practice and how to apply what they learned back in the classroom. These findings have implications for undergraduate social work education and how immersion learning programs can be a tool for enriching both knowledge and practice skills.     

Community College Engineering Students’ Perceptions of Classroom Climate and Fundamental Engineering Skills

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine community college engineering students’ perceptions of their classroom climate and how these perceptions are related to fundamental skills in engineering. The study was guided by the following research question: How are community college engineering students’ perceptions of their fundamental engineering skills related to their perceptions of classroom climate? Data from a 2009 National Science Foundation sponsored project, Prototype to Production: Processes and Conditions for Preparing the Engineer of 2020 (P2P), which contains information from students in 15 pre-engineering community college programs, were examined. Measures of classroom climate and fundamental skills related to engineering were first established through an exploratory factor analysis. In order to explore differences in student perceptions by individual characteristics and by institution, hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used. Results indicated that for community college engineering students, a warmer perception of classroom climate was associated with a higher perception of fundamental engineering skills. At community colleges, class sizes are generally smaller, especially compared to introductory courses at universities, and may provide a warmer climate for students considering beginning their engineering degrees. Given the diversity within community colleges, these institutions may provide an important pathway for underrepresented groups in engineering.     

Middle school behavioral profiles of antisocial and at‐risk control boys: Descriptive and predictive outcomes

Abstract

In this investigation we report two studies of the school behavior adjustment status of two groups of middle school‐age boys—an antisocial group (N = 39) and an at‐risk control group (N = 41). In study one, we compared the two groups on a series of behavioral measures across grades five, six, and seven that included (1) teacher ratings of social skills, (2) classroom observations, (3) playground observations, and (4) school archival records. Results indicated extremely problematic behavioral profiles for the antisocial subjects and much more favorable profiles for the at‐risk control students. The behavioral profiles for the two groups appeared to be quite consistent and stable across the middle school years with the exception that several variables (social skills ratings, attendance, math achievement, and school discipline contacts) tended to show gradually increasing negative trends for the antisocial subjects. In the second study, we used a series of selected fifth‐grade variables, derived from the four major clusters of study measures, as predictors in regression analyses of subjects' status on a series of seventh‐grade criterion measures of school success or failure. The criterion measures predicted in these analyses were reading and math achievement, school discipline contacts, attendance, and time spent within a nonregular classroom. There were low multiple Rs for reading achievement and time spent in a nonregular classroom setting. The multiple Rs for math achievement, school discipline contacts, and attendance were moderate to moderately high.     

The effects of classroom climate on college science students: A replication study

This replication studied the effect of two specific classroom climates on learning of science process skills and content achievement in college science classes. Two classroom climates were established and designated as discovery classroom climate (DCC) and nondiscovery classroom climate (NDCC). The term discovery denotes the degree of freedom the teacher established in classroom interactions, both verbal and nonverbal. Verbal interactions were monitored with the Science Laboratory Interaction Categories. These data indicate that students in the two classroom climates achieved equally as well on learning of biological content of the course and on scores in science process skills as measured by the Welch Science Process Inventory. This study indicates students in the less directive discovery climate learned as much content as a more directive comparison class—they lost nothing of what is traditionally sought in a college science class. Differences between the original and the replication study on the Science Process Inventory were noted.     

Helping students turn up for class: Does personality moderate the effectiveness of an implementation intention intervention?

Class attendance is an important determinant of academic success yet a significant proportion of students miss class. The present study investigated the deliberative and personality correlates of class attendance alongside an implementation intention intervention that asked students to specify when, where, and how they would attend class. Class attendance was found to be a function of conscientiousness (more conscientious students were more likely to attend), openness to experience (more open students were less likely to attend), goal intentions (more motivated students were more likely to attend), and the implementation intention intervention (students who formed specific plans about when, where, and how to attend were more likely to attend). Furthermore, there was a significant interaction between the implementation intention intervention and conscientiousness; the intervention had a greater impact on class attendance for low or moderately conscientious students than for highly conscientious students.     

Social Justice Education in a Diverse Classroom: Examining High School Discussions about Race,Power, and Privilege

High school students who participate in social justice education have a greater awareness of inequities that impact their school, community, and society, and learn tools for taking action to address these inequities. Also, a classroom that consist of students with a diverse set of identities creates an ideal circumstance in which a teacher can build upon student differences in order to facilitate meaningful discussions about social justice, especially issues of race. Therefore, in this article we use qualitative case study approaches to examine a high school course on social justice education, paying specific attention to the classroom pedagogy and dialogue on issues of race, power, and privilege. The course was purposefully diverse in enrollment, which brought students together who might not have had interactions with each other prior to the class. We employ Hackman's (2005) five components of social justice education (SJE) as a framework for the analysis of the pedagogy and discussions constructed in the classroom, as well as a common language for what constitutes as social justice education in our research inquiry. Students in the course developed a facility for defining and identifying various forms of oppression and injustice. However, we questioned to what extent these very same issues played out in the class dialogue. Due to the level of student diversity, the course was a unique space to learn about racism and intersecting issues of social justice. However, there was still some student resistance to acknowledging certain aspects of racism. In conclusion, we discuss how social justice education is not absolved from, but rife with complex racial politics.     

Promoting intergenerational learning in higher education: older adult perspectives on course auditing

ABSTRACT

As the population ages, colleges and universities have opportunities to promote intergenerational learning by inviting lifelong learners to engage with students in the classroom. This article outlines an initiative to enroll older adults as auditors and to describe their experiences. Thirty of 40 older adult auditors completed a hard-copy survey administered in 2017 (75% response rate). Results indicate that auditors were motivated to enroll in a college course due to the self-satisfaction of learning, subject of the course, and time of course offering. Over half described completing course assignments and a majority accessed content on Blackboard at least once per week. Older adults reported engaging with students in and out of the classroom and described the benefits of intergenerational engagement as learning about younger adults’ perspectives and the reciprocity of learning and mutual respect between generations. Suggestions for improvement relate to offering more courses for auditing and greater assistance with course technology. Implications for promoting this type of lifelong learning initiative are discussed.     

The College Teaching Profession

Abstract

This article describes how a traditional biology lecture course was transformed into an interactive class. A review the activities used, changes made to grading policy, and practical tips for integration of active learning in the classroom are provided. Analysis of student responses to course assessments indicated that active learning experiences helped them focus on and understand key concepts of the course. Students performed as well as, or better than, those in previous classes that used a more traditional lecture technique. Active learning enriches the classroom learning experience and can be incorporated into a large lecture setting with relative ease.     

Science Laboratory Classroom Environments at Schools and Universities: A Cross‐National Study∗

ABSTRACT

Because already existing classroom environment scales are unsuitable for science laboratory classes, a new instrument was developed and validated in a Class form (student's perceptions of the class as a whole) and a new Personal form (student's perceptions of his/her own role within the class). The instrument was cross‐nationally field tested with 5,447 students in 269 classes in six countries, and cross‐validated with 1,594 students in 92 classes in Australia. Each scale exhibited satisfactory internal consistency reliability, discriminant validity, and factorial validity, and differentiated between the perceptions of students in different classes. Use of the new instrument revealed that: science laboratory classes are dominated by closed‐ended activities; Class form means consistently were more favorable than Personal form means; associations existed between attitudinal outcomes and laboratory environment; and the Class and Personal form each accounted for unique variance in student attitudes.     

Undertaking Experiments in Social Sciences: Sequential,Multiple Time Series Designs for Consideration

In social sciences, the use of stringent methodological approaches is gaining increasing emphasis. Researchers have recognized the limitations of cross-sectional, non-manipulative data in the study of causality. True experimental designs, in contrast, are preferred as they represent rigorous standards for achieving causal flows between variables. The Solomon four-group design, for example, is ideal for its positioning to account for, and factor out, confounded influences of predictors on outcomes. However, in daily life settings, it is often difficult to emulate true experimental conditions. Identified limitations include financial resources, logistic difficulties, time constraint, and small sample sizes in social science research settings. There are, of course, other experimental designs that are noteworthy for consideration. Time series and single-case designs, quasi in nature, are effective alternatives for educators and researchers to consider in their research foci. This article examines the different experimental designs that may be implemented in naturalistic classroom settings. In particular, one important inquiry of our theoretical discussion pertains closely to the conceptualization of two innovative designs that we have made, consequently as a result of our research development and examination of the literature: a sequential, multiple time series multi-group design and a multi time series, multi-group single-case design. These experimental designs are innovative and enable comparisons for within and between differences under different experimental conditions.     

EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG CLASSROOM CLIMATE, SELF-EFFICACY, AND ACHIEVEMENT IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS: A MULTI-LEVEL ANALYSIS

For nearly 50 years, leaders in American industry, military, education, and politics have focused considerable attention on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education. Given the increased societal demand for STEM careers, the relationships among classroom climate, self-efficacy, and achievement in undergraduate mathematics needed to be examined. A purposeful sample of college algebra instructors (n = 15), employed at public 4-year universities in various states (n = 10) across the nation, was administered the Principles of Adult Learning Scale at the beginning of the semester to assess classroom climate. At the end of the course semester, their college algebra students (n = 326) were administered the Mathematics Self-Efficacy Scale-Revised and final college algebra examinations. The results of the multi-level analysis indicated: (a) students having higher mathematics self-efficacy also had higher mathematics achievement, (b) teacher-centered classroom climates had greater mathematics self-efficacy levels, (c) classroom climate was not a significant predictor of mathematics achievement, (c) classroom climate did not moderate the relationship between mathematics self-efficacy and achievement, and (d) although boys reported higher mathematics self-efficacy than girls, gender differences were not found to exist in regard to mathematics achievement.     

Service-learning in engineering: a valuable pedagogy for meeting learning objectives

Service-learning is an educational practice that has been used successfully in many disciplines, and is defined as ‘a credit-bearing, educational experience in which students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility’ (Bringle, R. and Hatcher, J., A service-learning curriculum for faculty. Michigan J. Community Service-Learning, 1995 Bringle, R. and Hatcher, J. 1995. A service-learning curriculum for faculty. Michigan J. Community Service-Learning, 2: 112–122.  [Google Scholar], 2, 112–122). This research examines a first-year biological engineering design course that incorporated a service-learning project. Students participated in a survey and in focus groups to explore how well the service-learning project helped them to meet EC 2000 a–k objectives. Results showed that the service-learning project was a useful teaching method for accomplishing the learning objectives set forth by the instructor and by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology. Women and non-white participants in this study generally assessed their learning outcomes to be greater than white males, which could have important implications in the recruitment and retention of such students in engineering.     

Activating learning in engineering education using ICT and the concept of ‘Flipping the classroom’

ABSTRACT

This case study trialled the introduction of a student-response system (Top Hat) in a third-year engineering Fluid Mechanics course (n?=?44) to improve student engagement, motivation and cognition. It was recognised that for the potential benefits of student-response systems (SRSs) to be fully realised, more time must be allocated for student engagement and the active learning components of the course. In order to allow sufficient time to fully engage with the SRSs and other classroom activities, traditional lectures were revised and the classroom format was flipped. This paper presents the initial case study results focusing on the use of SRSs. Overall, the new flipped lecture and SRS teaching format demonstrated a substantial increase in the level of student engagement, motivation, active learning and attendance compared to previous cohorts. However, the increased levels of engagement did not appear to reflect on any large increase in students’ individual grades.     

The influence of personality on social participation in learning environments

The impacts of the instructional environment (classroom vs. Web-based instructional environment—WBIE) and personality differences on students' social participation were examined among 214 university students. Students reported their attendance, willingness to participate and actual participation in each instructional environment. Students' personality traits were measured by the Big Five Inventory. It was found that despite of frequent attendance to both educational environments, the classroom seems to enhance students' active participation whereas WBIE appears to inhibit it. Participants in class were more extroverted, open to new experiences and emotionally stable, relative to non-participants. Such differences were not found between WBIE participants and non-participants. Students who actively participated only in WBIE were more introverted and more neurotic than students who participated in both environments, students who did not participate in either instructional environment, or students who participated exclusively in class. These results point to the psychological impact of the two instructional environments, and suggest viewing social participation as a result of educational context while individual differences play secondary role.