A traditionally and Non
Traditionally Flipped
Classroom
BY: CAROLYN BAJAKSOUZIAN
Flipped classroom is not necessarily a new idea. Many have heard of giving a video lecture the
night before a class, and using the class time to increase student interaction with the content of the
video through activities or examples. But what if it were done in the opposite order? What if
students were able to construct their own ideas of a concepts through a guided line of questioning
before being introduced to the content? That is what I did with my AP Physics flipped classroom.
When introducing the concept of the Law of Conservation of Momentum, I came up with a list of
questions to get students thinking. What quantities are conserved? Could momentum be
conserved? If so, when might momentum be conserved? If momentum were conserved, what would
that mean? If it were conserved, what would the conservation of momentum equation look like?
Very little guidance was provided at this point.
From there, I asked them to consider a collision. Would momentum be conserved there? What
would that equation look like if it were conserved? If they were to test for conservation of
momentum in a collision, what would that experiment look like? In groups, the students created a
procedure for an experiment they would conduct the next day.
After students had their own ideas about the content, then they were able watch to either confirm
or adjust their misconceptions. This is opposite of of the traditional flipped classroom, and worked
well for this type of inquiry lesson!
Of course I’ve flipped the classroom the traditional way was well. Regardless of the method, I
enjoy that it removes lecturing from the classroom. I never liked sitting through lectures as a
student, and giving them isn’t my favorite. Flipping the classroom allows for more one-on-one
interaction and more time to engage with the content.