First Semester

Listed below are end of first semester pros and cons for Modified-Flipped Algebra.

PROS

• Students like the direct feedback from working on problems in class.  Knowing they are correct or not right away is helpful
• No-one is ever finished - there are always more problems to challenge them, work on Khan Academy in class or use their interactive textbook problems
• Note taking skills are improving
• Class work looks nice
• Technology skills are getting better
• Independent learning is developing
• The class is less redundant - students who understand the concept move quickly through the mechanical problems
• The flipped lesson really requires the student to think about the concept because I am not handing them all the information (this may be viewed by the students as a con - I think it is a pro)

Cons

• Time management in and out of class is a struggle for this age group
• Students that do not watch the entire videos assigned - quickly fall behind
• Students that do not take proper notes - quickly fall behind
• Proper notation is not always picked up from the videos
• Knowing and understanding the math vocabulary is a problem
• Troubleshooting computer issues

There are more pros and cons but I tried to list the most pertinent and be straight to the point.

I will continue the Modified- Flipped classroom next semester and try to incorporate techniques that will help to improve the cons listed above.  I believe the most important item I still need to address is teaching the students the learning process of the flipped classroom.  While most notes are looking very nice, the information quality is not always there.  Without quality information in their notes, some have trouble completing the class assignment in the short period of time that is given.  Each day they get better at taking away the important information from the content delivered as homework.  They just need practice at learning with this method.

I will leave you with a comment I recently had from a student. She commented that she liked coming to math because working on the homework in class really made her think!

1st Semester MBF Observations

Two different learning styles emerged throughout the semester: Independent and Hands On.  Both of these groups bought into the model of alternating between days in class and the Student Learning Commons.  Below are some observations from class this semester.


-Both groups embraced the model of alternative days in class and the library.

-The Independent both enjoyed the freedom to learn independently and put their time to use specifically related to MBF.  The Hands On group did not use their time in the Commons exclusively for MBF.

-The Hands On group really took to guided lectures and discovery learning techniques.  They were able to demonstrate proficiency with concepts when working with me in class.

-The Independent group performed better than the Hands On group on assignments where instructor assistance was unavailable.

-All students needed more practice at developing beneficial study skills and habits.

-Students desired application problems with the Khan Academy videos.  While they found the videos relevant, they found the lack of interactivity boring which resulted in them turning off the videos before completion.

-Students who had previously demonstrated an aptitude for independent learning performed better on exams than did students without this background.

-The instructional point of attack next semester will focus heavily on building study skills and crafting assessments that allow students to demonstrate proficiency based on their various learning styles.

Midterm exam results

After grading all my semester exams for Honors Physics, I was interested to compare how the students in the blended class did relative to the other non-blended classes. The average midterm score in the blended Honors Physics class was 86.9%, which was higher than all the other non-blended Honors Physics sections (see the chart below).

This definitely bodes well for the idea of blended learning. Still, I am hesitant to say that this is definitive proof that blended classes work better, since comparing different students to each other is hard given that the inherent differences of each student is so great, and the sample size is still small. But it does make me more comfortable saying that the blended section seems to be working at least as well as non-blended sections.

A large caveat I would offer is that the students in this blended section were self selected since they had to sign up for it on their own. This data does not speak to whether all students, regardless of their disposition, would show improved performance in a blended class.

Another thing that gives me pause is that the students in the blended section scored just a little less than one of the traditional sections on the interview exam on Newton's Laws and Forces. The difference was small, but it makes me concerned that students in the blended section aren't getting the practice at justifying their answers that they would get from having me always asking them "why did you use that approach", "why can you do that", "when can't you do that" when I'm walking around and helping students with problem solving in class. I'm not sure how to replicate this Socratic questioning when students are away from class. Students will almost always take the easiest way out, so if they can find an answer without thinking they are going to take it. 

End of semester thoughts

We are finishing up our first semester in Honors physics. Here are some if the pros and cons that I have noticed during the first semester in using the blended format of instruction:

Pros

1. Since students in the blended section have an independent "Library day" about every other day, I've been able to individualize instruction for students better. During "Library Days" most students go to the library to work independently, but if a student has missed class or needs extra remediation, I've allowed them to stay with me in the class and address any issues that they have in an individualized way. Admittedly, the fact that the blended section is so small (7 students) helps a lot with being able to give personal attention to each student.
2. Most students are still pretty happy about "Library Days" where they can complete work independently or with each other in the Social Learning Commons. 
3. Anecdotally it seems like the students in my blended Honors physics section are becoming more independent learners compared to the students in my traditional Honors physics sections. They still ask questions, but they are more willing to try and figure out how to fix the problem first on their own, before they ask me. I have no actual statistic to back this up, but that's the impression I get.

Cons

1. Some students still don't like learning from the Khan Academy physics videos. Some of this may owe to the fact that I haven't been having them watch all the Khan videos on a topic. I've selected the ones most pertinent to the ideas we're developing. Since the Khan Academy physics videos are somewhat sequence based, and one video flows directly from the last video and into the next video, having them watch only some of the videos might be giving them a disjointed experience that is less enjoyable. The problem is that since each Khan Academy video is about 10 minutes, I can only have them watch about one or two during their "Library days" or else there would be no time for them to try any sample problems during that time. I suppose I could have them just watch videos for a whole library day, but 55 minutes of lecture (no matter who is lecturing or whether it is on video or not) is a long time to ask a student to maintain their attention span (and one could make a case that doing so is more akin to child abuse than education). 
2. The Braingenie site and problem sets are great for the most part. But a few Braingenie problems are worded vaguely or just plain incorrectly and the site at times is a little buggy. Giving students problems that are worded vaguely is not useful to my purposes. The most important thing I am trying to teach my students is to be able to think clearly, precisely, and in an organized manner. So being precise is very important for the educational goals I've set for my students. In fact, helping my students think clearly/precisely and in an organized manner to me is much, much more important than any physics topic or equation that they will learn about. (I give my students extra credit if they can point out any time I've been imprecise/vague in the questions I've asked them. I am never so pleased/proud during the school day as I am when one of my students calls me out on being vague/imprecise.)
3. The grades for the blended section during first quarter were higher than the traditional sections, but the second quarter grades for the blended section are no longer the highest of all the physics sections (they aren't the lowest either). I am pretty sure that the cause for the drop is student absences and missed assignments and missed classes that are forcing students to catch back up. I expect that in the last couple weeks we will see the grades for the blended section rise back to equal or greater than the other sections.

I have one more interview exam to give. My blended section did not receive the highest scores (or lowest scores) during the last interview exam, so I am interested to see how they do this time.

To me the biggest test for whether this blended class has been a success or not will be the performance of the students on the semester I exam, since it is a sampling of everything we've done this quarter. Every Honors physics section (blended or otherwise) will take the same semester exam at the same time in the same large area. I am interested to see how the blended section semester I exam scores compare with the rest of the traditional Honors physics sections.

Flipping by Learning Styles

Flipping by Learning Styles

In Money, Banking and Finance we've been trying to a blend direct instruction, small group work, and independent learning through technology into a proficient pedagogy. In this past unit I employed the following teaching strategies:

1) Direct Instruction with application problems included within lectures.

2) Students alternating days in the classroom.

3) Small tutor sessions after lecture to allow for individual attention.

4) Use Khan Academy as a support tool to provide students with more context.

As most of our classwork was collaborative, the unit assessment was a group project.

Results:

What developed from the above goals was a class divided into two small groups that would engage in discovery based lectures followed by a set of application problems.  The two groups were divided based on learning styles, one more traditional (Group 1), the other more hands on (Group 2).

The results for both groups were the same in class.  They were able to replicate and discover the key concepts in the same amount of time with tantamount proficiency.  Sometimes Group 1 would see me on alternating days, and other days the groups would split the period in half, with the other 30 minutes being spent in the learning commons working on problems.

Application problems were completed in the manner requested, which was for students to work through the problems in enough detail to allow for discussion the following class.

We did not use as many videos as I would have liked.  In this next unit I'm going to stress note- taking skills in conjunction with the videos and readings.

The unit assessment provided some challenges.  Group 1 was able to succeed with few hurdles.  Group 2 encountered some confusion with the assignment as well as some challenges with staying productive in an independent environment.

Moving Forward:

This next lesson will pedagogically will focus on the following:

-Instructing independent learning skills (note taking, reviewing, practicing problems)
-Study skills as we review for the final exam (using videos from Khan Academy, reading entire questions, consulting notes in the study process, asking a classmate, searching the web)
-Continuing to divide the class by learning styles with intensive discovery based direct instruction.
-As an instructor, writing assignment prompts with more clarity.