Flipped classroom, what a tempting concept! But this suppose before class reading.
My first trials where not successful and couldn't be: I just asked the students to read this or that section in their book or look at this or that online resource. No guidance, no reading question/quiz. Students just came to class saying: "I tried, miss! But I didn't understood..." And I ended up lecturing. How worst can it be?
The most recent ones went better, thanks to few reading questions, always including Mazur's last question: “Please tell me what you found difficult or confusing in this reading assignment. If you did not find anything difficult or confusing, tell me what you found most interesting.”
Still, I just tried it on some particular topics, having difficulties to "let go" and not lecture on difficult or completely new concepts. Why? I think mainly because I do not trust students reading capacities. In chapter 9, Bean gives many reason why students have difficulties to read. Two points kept my attention:
The most recent ones went better, thanks to few reading questions, always including Mazur's last question: “Please tell me what you found difficult or confusing in this reading assignment. If you did not find anything difficult or confusing, tell me what you found most interesting.”
Still, I just tried it on some particular topics, having difficulties to "let go" and not lecture on difficult or completely new concepts. Why? I think mainly because I do not trust students reading capacities. In chapter 9, Bean gives many reason why students have difficulties to read. Two points kept my attention:
- "A School culture that rewards surface reading", encouraging surface reading and short-term memorization rather than deep learning.
- "Students' resistance to the time-on-task required for deep reading".
(Experts) hold confusing passages in mental suspension, having faith that later parts to the text may clarify earlier parts. They "nutshell" passages as they proceed, often writing gist statement in the margins. They read a difficult text a second and a third time (...) They interact with the text.