The Flipped Classroom: Engage millennial students through active learning strategies

“Flipping” the classroom employs easy-to-use, readily accessible technology in order to free class time from lectures. This allows for an expanded range of learning activities during class time. Using class time for active learning versus lecture provides opportunities for greater teacher-to-student mentoring, peer-to-peer collaboration, and cross-disciplinary engagement. This review of literature addresses the challenges of engaging today’s students in lecture-based classrooms and presents an argument for the application of the “flipped classroom” model by educators in the disciplines of family and consumer sciences.

What would this look like in a course?

• Consider flipping parts of your lecture class such that students must come into class with questions on material that was already presented.
• In solidifying students’ learning, consider using both group work approaches (e.g., debriefing what was difficult about the content for that day) as well as individual approaches (e.g., students creating a mind map or summary of what they learned).
• Make sure you implement multiple ways of holding students accountable for their learning (e.g., exit tickets, pre-class comprehension checks, etc.).