Running Head: MEETING THE NEEDS OF A FLIPPED CLASSROOM 1

Core Psychological Concepts Paper:

Meeting the Needs of a Flipped Mathematical Classroom to Promote Student Learning

Lauren Martin

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
MEETING THE NEEDS OF A FLIPPED CLASSROOM 2

Abstract

It is always important to find and attempt new methods in a mathematics classroom. In my

eighth grade math class, I implemented a flipped classroom approach, which seems to be

working for a number of students. For others, it is not, which is also causing some classroom

management issues. The core psychological concepts that relate to this problem are fairness of

the assessment, my students Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and my own teaching

strategies. An intervention is needed in my classroom to facilitate better student learning and to

keep students on task. This intervention will involve an assessment of resources outside of the

classroom as well as a revision of my teaching strategies and implementation of a flipped

classroom. To measure the success of my intervention I will keep track of how many students

watch the lectures each day and count how many times I have to redirect my students in class. I

will know if my intervention has worked if the number of students watching the lectures goes up

significantly or includes all students and the number of redirects occurring in class are rare.
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Meeting the Needs of a Flipped Mathematical Classroom to Promote Student Learning

Defining the Problem

The method that was most recently put into place for my eighth grade algebra students

was a flipped approach in the classroom. Instead of having lecture during class time and

homework for the students to do at home, the students now watch online lectures at home and do

homework or activities related to the lectures in class. This approach seemed to be helping a

number of students because I am able to watch how they work the problems and then provide

scaffolding to help them to correct errors in their work. There are some students who require a

lot of extra help in class and their excuse is that they are just not smart and I believe that part

of the issue is that they are not completing the required lectures outside of class. There have also

been a few classroom management issues due to disruptive students at the end of class who have

already completed their assignments, which interrupts the instruction to students in need.

Students are walking around the room and talking about unrelated topics with students who are

still attempting to work on the assigned tasks.

As their teacher, I have decided that there are a few core psychological concepts that need

to be redefined in my classroom by putting an intervention in place. These concepts are fairness

of the assessment, my students Zone of Proximal Development, and my own teaching strategies.

An intervention is important to fix these concepts problems because I believe in the benefits of a

flipped classroom and the effect this strategy can have on student learning.

Fairness

"Assessments are fair when they provide all students with an equal opportunity to

demonstrate their knowledge and skills" (Moreno, 2010, p. 459). Fairness is included in many

different aspects of assessment including question content as well as in the scoring process of
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assessments. This is important for teachers to understand because some question content can

become distracting if it is offensive or if a teacher gives a better grade to a student that he or she

likes better than others, this is also unfair and known as the halo effect.

Fairness plays a role in my problem because of the fact that some of the students may not

have the same opportunities at home to do the online classrooms and work required for a flipped

classroom that other students might have. The students who are in need of extra help may not

have the same "home scene" as others. They may not have a quiet place to listen and work

without distraction and may have parents who don't help with the lectures and assignments like

other students might. This may be because of the students socioeconomic status, which could

play a role in how fair my method may be for certain students. Socioeconomic status is used to

categorize people by educational, occupational and economic characteristics. This concept is the

most powerful factor influencing students success (Moreno, 2010, p. 37). This idea may be

causing some unfairness in students opportunities to finish the online lectures.

Zone of Proximal Development

The Zone of Proximal Development is a key piece to Vygotsky's theory. The Zone of

Proximal Development (ZPD) means "the cognitive level at which children are able to solve

problems under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Moreno, 2010, p.

90). This concept is important for teachers to know because this is useful in promoting student's

cognitive growth.

This concept plays a role in my problem because in the classroom when students are

working on problems related to what they have learned with the teacher, it is guided problem

solving. The teacher is scaffolding the students to help them learn to do the math problems on

their own. Every student also has a different level of ZPD, which may be why some students are
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acting out towards the end of class. The task levels are too easy for the student and they get

bored. The same could go for the students who do not think that they are smart enough and need

a lot of extra help getting the work done. The task level is too difficult for them and they become

frustrated (Moreno, 2010, p. 91). Knowing the ZPD of the students will help them succeed in the

flipped classroom.

Teacher Characteristics and Teaching Strategies

The concept of Teacher characteristics and Teacher strategies is important in promoting

student learning. I thought these characteristics of a teacher and their strategies would help the

students to focus on the learning objectives as well as spark an interest and want to do the

online lecture activities. Some things listed in the chapter that indicate teacher enthusiasm are

speaking in various tones, volume and pitch, making use of facial expressions, gesturing,

displaying high energy and moving around and interacting with the students in the classroom

(Moreno, 2010, p. 371). The text also listed and described many teaching strategies that will

spark students interest and curiosity, such as using a variety of teaching methods, integrating

technology in the classroom and even involving students in fantasy and make-believe (Moreno,

2010, p. 372).

These topics specifically play a role in my problem because the students are not all

watching the online lectures and maybe that is because they do not spark students interest and

curiosity. Also, students become disrupted at the end of class, which may be a result of boredom,

due to the teaching style and activities during class. Maybe the activities are too easy and do not

use enough student imagination to keep them focused. This is where different teaching strategies

may be helpful to keep the students interested and focused during class as well as more

participation in the online lectures.

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Designing an Intervention

When designing my intervention, I took into account all three concepts that need

attention to meet the needs of my classroom in order to promote learning. My intervention is

designed around re-evaluating the online lectures to fit the needs of my students. I will need to

gather information from my students and their parents to be able to make interesting lectures and

provide opportunities for all of my students to complete them.

Fairness

I could address this part of the problem by contacting parents and asking how their

student is doing with the new flipped classroom approach and the lectures at home. If I were to

contact parents of the children not doing so well and the parents of the children who are doing

well, they might be able to give me some information on how the students complete the assigned

lectures and work. I would then be able to shed some light on why some students may be

excelling and others are not and be able to make appropriate changes.

This may not work for the students who have a lower socioeconomic status and these

students may have to be addressed in a different way. These parents may not have the means of

communicating with me and they also may not know whether or not their student is finishing the

lectures. To address this problem if it arises, I may have to have a student questionnaire about the

means in which they attempt to complete the lectures at home.

Zone of Proximal Development

To address this concept within my problem I could pretest the students to find out what

their ZPD is within the topics that will be covered in the flipped approach. The pretest will help

me decide what the range of ZPD's are in the class. I may have to give some students extra work

with more difficult and expanded problems while I give other students the base line problems
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that are at their skill level of what they can do on their own. I may need to adapt the tasks in my

own way to fit the students needs depending on the data collected from the ZPD test. This might

help this issue of some students acting out as well as those who are in need of a lot of extra help.

I think having students who are on different levels could work in a flipped classroom as long as

they all can get through the base line of knowledge needed for that unit.

I think the most reliable approach pertaining to my specific problem and this concept is

finding the ZPD of the class as a whole and starting the class at an appropriate level and not

leaving some students feeling like they are different than the other students and being fair to

everyone. The challenge in this will be taking a day to find out what the ZPD of my students is as

well as finding or creating an assessment that will accurately tell me their ZPD. If this

information is attainable, then it will be very beneficial in promoting my students learning in this

setting.

Teacher Characteristics and Teaching Strategies

To address this concept or theory within my classroom, I can give the students a

survey/questionnaire on whether or not the online lectures are interesting and engaging. If even a

quarter of the class says the lectures are not, I could create my own online lectures that are

engaging and tailored to my students interests. I say even a quarter because I want to make sure

all students are engaged in the lesson. I realize that this is something that could take time and

may have to be done in advance on the next go around of the unit.

Also, I could use teaching strategies suggested in Morenos book that will help to engage

my students. One strategy that I could use is creating student-generated projects. This will give

students the chance to expand on the topics that they want to go more in depth on (Moreno,
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2010, p. 372). I could give the students a list of topics from the lectures and give guidelines to

creating their own project for each topic.

Another strategy that may be useful would be to use my knowledge of metacognition and

ask the students to answer reflective questions at the end of an activity. This was an idea pulled

from a Freakonomics podcast on boredom, where they tried to define and evaluate boredom in

people. This metacognition is said to keep the students from being bored. The students will

realize whether or not they are bored through the reflective questions and be able to make

changes where needed (Dubner, 2015).

As for the teacher characteristics I think it is important that I have a high-energy

atmosphere in my classroom and it is pertinent that I move around the classroom quite a bit and

interact with my students. Little stated in his article that this high-energy teacher-student

relationship is something that students can receive from a flipped classroom experience (Little,

2015). And in turn, Fuller and Macfadyen have stated in their article that this relationship can

promote student learning in the classroom (Fuller and Macfadyen, 2012). This is going to be a

key characteristic of myself as a teacher that needs to be present in order for the flipped

classroom approach to work.

Evaluating Results

During the evaluation stage of this intervention, I will need to address what the students

thoughts are in regards to these changes. I will also need to assess the amount of interaction with

the material I see during class as well as the number of redirects I have to give off-task students.

If my intervention has worked, the students will be completing the online lectures and will be

able to stay on task during class. I will have surveys, phone interviews with parents as well as my

own data to go off of when evaluating my changes.

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Fairness

To evaluate whether or not my students believe this new intervention is fair would be to

have a post-questionnaire set up in order to gage what my students think of the changes that I

will be making. I will also have a follow-up conversation with my students parents who will be

able to tell me if the means of their student completing the online lectures has changed for the

better. I will know that I have had success in the fairness category when all students say that they

have a means of completing the online lectures at home as well as the students stating that they

feel as if the lectures and activities are tasks in which they feel that they could accomplish.

Zone of Proximal Development

I will be able to tell if my intervention worked in favor of my students ZPD issue in the

original problem if my students are staying on task throughout the entire class period. I would

also need to assess students confidence in the intervention. I will have to put on my post-

questionnaire as to whether or not the students believe that new activities and lectures are

something that they can actively engage in and complete by themselves or with the help and

collaboration of others.

Teacher Characteristics and Teaching Strategies

To assess the issue with the online lectures, I could make a couple of my own and have

the students rate the engagement factor of each lecture as to which they would prefer. If they

were to prefer my lectures, then I would begin to do this for each online lecture and overtime see

if more students begin to complete the lectures. To assess the classroom activities, I could

implement the new ideas for a few days and observe and assess if students are able to actively

engage in their projects or other activities until the end of the class without disturbing others.
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In consideration of a long-term assessment of the intervention, I will know that this has

worked when all, but a couple of students are completing the lectures. I will also be able to see

that my intervention has worked when my students are more enthusiastic during class activities

by modeling my enthusiastic behavior.

Conclusion

In McLeans article over the idea of flipped classrooms in relation to student learning, she

mentions pre-work and how it is a vital piece of the structure of a flipped classroom. It is an

important aspect of student participation and learning during the class instruction and activity

piece. Through the completion of the pre-work students are able to learn valuable skills such as

independent learning as well as encountering a deeper learning experience (McLean, 2016).

Because of this, I believe that it is important for me to implement this intervention in my

classroom, so that my students can reap the full benefits of a flipped classroom experience.
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References

Dubner, S. J. (2015, October 29). Am I Boring You? A New Freakonomics Radio Episode -

Freakonomics. Retrieved April, 2016, from http://freakonomics.com/podcast/am-i-

boring-you-a-new-freakonomics-radio-episode/

Fuller, C., and T. Macfadyen. 2012. What with Your Grades? Students Motivation for and

Experiences of Vocational Courses in Further Education. Journal of Vocational

Education and Training 64 (1): 87101.

Little, C. (2015). The flipped classroom in further education: Literature review and case study.

Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 20(3), 265-279. Retrieved from

www.tandfonline.com.library.unl.edu/eprint/gGcfYDszrAyPKDf7v8fc/full

McLean, S., Attardi, S. M., Faden, L., & Goldszmidt, M. (2016). Flipped classrooms and student

learning: not just surface gains. Advances in Physiology Education, 40(1), 47-55.

Moreno, R. (2010). Educational psychology. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.