First Flip

Ok. Here we go. An account of my first experiment in "flipping" IB physics. I have flipped a full topic with a small group of motivated International Baccalaureate students. The topic is standard level Thermal Physics, and the process went as follows:

Step 1: Creating Videos

I created a series of videos. This was fun! Time consuming, but fun. Knowing that if I do it well enough, I only have to do it once helps. I wanted to make it more meaningful than just narrating a PowerPoint, so I used PhET simulations to create an environment in which I could demonstrate the concepts I was teaching. Below you can view the first in the series of videos (playlist)...

I used Camtasia Recorder to record the videos, and Camtasia Studio to do some basic editing together of the recorded bits. The nice thing about Camtasia is that I can save the project file, so if I need to go back and edit out a mistake, I can do this. I also made use of ExplainEverything and an iPad to do the worked examples. I figured it would be more "immediate" to see me solving them "live" with scrawly pen-strokes and some mistakes thrown in - deliberately, of course! A terrible scrawl was the best I could manage with a top-end stylus and the iPad. Inevitably, a few errors made it into the videos, but the students were pretty good at picking these up, and they made for great discussion in class.

Step 2: Publishing Video

Once finished, I had to figure out a dependable way to publish them. There were some alternatives - YouTube, CrazyForEducation, iTunesU, screencast.com &c. Although I put the vids on YouTube, I used our intranet (a version of Moodle) to publish them for the students this time around as their access to YouTube is restricted while at school. This allowed me to check the logs to ensure that they had logged on and watched the videos. I am planning to make proper use of the functions in the CrazyForEducation site for the next topic...

I asked students to watch the videos and create their own notes (if you have a look at the videos, they are kind of geared towards creating notes...). I was really impressed with what they created (I'll snap a photo when I get a chance).

Step 3: In Class

Between videos, when we were in class, I could basically pick and choose the coolest learning activities without worrying about ploughing through "content," something that these students are super capable of doing themselves. The activities "worked" whether the students had already watched the videos or not:

• In some cases, I had designed simulated experiments making use of the same simulations I used to make the videos.
• The students also worked through solving a number of practical problems (finding the SHC of a metal, plotting and explaining the cooling curve of candle wax, &c.).
• We used class time to complete assignments that they otherwise would have done for homework. 
• Students completed a kind of conceptual quiz I've designed to maximise incentives for thorough explanation of complex problems.
• We also had time to look at some of the links between this topic and theory of knowledge! This is something that I have had a lot of interest in doing, but which I struggle to make time for. We looked at the connection between developments in thermal physics and the industrial revolution...

Next:

I want to add the functionality of CrazyForEducation into the mix for the higher level thermodynamics topic we are covering next. I'll be back to let you know how that goes...

Experiment in Flipping Physics - Rationale

A video doesn't mind pausing
while you make sense of that last line of algebra...

Rationale:

Communicating a straightforward idea to a class of 25 students can be a complicated process. Some are attending to what you are saying; some are thinking about their calculus test in period 3. Some are at home, in bed, with the flu. Of the ones that are attending, some already know and understand what you are about to say, while others lack any prior learning in the subject area, and will require a good deal of repetition and time to fit the new concepts into their existing framework of prior knowledge. 

I know they can all "get it," but how do I get there without boring half the class, and stressing the other half out? How can I differentiate the "lecturing" part of learning, the communication of basic concepts, so that every student can get it at their own pace? 

Having seen the vast range of tutorial videos available online, and having made a few myself, I realised that this part of learning doesn't require, and possibly isn't even ideally suited to, the school classroom environment. I suspect that we do this kind of learning better without the social pressures of the classroom. We feel awkward asking the professor to wait, to repeat herself, to pause while we try to make sense of the algebra. We feel awkward asking a question in front of all those others, sitting around us, who look like they understand it. 

By removing this pressure - by delivering these lectures by video to students as homework - we might not only save time for learning activities that are more suited to the high school classroom, but also allow the students to attend in their own way, when they are ready to, and without the pressure of having to appear as smart as the "rest"...

That's the hypothesis. Let's carry out an experiment...