Education is a hot-topic issue across the
United States, not only for educators and students, but also for all Americans
who place their trust in the education system here.  The vast majority of adults and children are
somehow involved in the public school system and likely have opinions about
what should or should not be occurring in classrooms.  As a Secondary Education major, I have had
the opportunity to learn about the changes being made right now, the largest of
those being a country-wide curriculum reevaluation.  However, the idea of a “flipped classroom” is
also falling into the spotlight as administrators begin to assess teaching
methods as well. 

In his book, “Smarter Than You Think,”
Clive Thompson describes the flipped classroom as one where teachers “assign
videos to be watched at home, then have the students do the homework in
class”(Thompson 177).  The students in
Thompson’s example attend a normal public school, but they learn new math
concepts through Kahn Academy, an online program that teaches students how to
do each problem step-by-step.  According
to Thompson, this has many benefits, which include allowing the students to
work at their own pace, letting them re-watch instructions as many times as necessary,
and providing them with help via their classroom teacher while they are working
on homework(176-177).  Thompson asserts
that this form of “one-on-one tutoring”(176) allows students to learn new
concepts faster and remember the content better.  As teachers begin to see how well this system
works, they are likely to flip their own classrooms in the future.

1. Why flipped?
2. How new is it?
3. Learn more