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FLIPPED CLASSROOM CASE STUDY

ERASMUS+ Programme 4 ELEMENTS – FOR A GREEN PLANET!

Project No: 2017-1-PT01-KA219-035800

sep 2017 - oct 2019

Index

Introduction 5

Schools involved in the Case Study 6

The participating groups of students in the Case Study 10

Expectations towards the Learning Process 12

Flipped Classroom Method 15

Overall Results 27

Attachments 29

Working teams from each country 34

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Introduction One of the 4Elements Erasmus+ Project priorities was to develop and study the impact and influence on the learning process of students of a different teaching/learning method: the Flipped Classroom. Having this objective in mind we started to research and to know more about the method that was not being used in any of the involved schools.

A previous swot analysis to our own schools showed that teaching needs some changes and students need to be more involved in the process. That was the reason to look for different options and the one chosen, the Flipped Classroom, would be a challenge for both, Teachers and Students.

As we realized:

Flipped classroom is a “pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space, and the resulting group space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter”

(The Flipped Learning Network, 2014)

The main goal of a flipped classroom is to enhance student learning and achievement by reversing the traditional model of a classroom, focusing class time on student understanding rather than on lecture. To accomplish this, teachers post short video lectures online for students to view at home prior to the next class session. This allows class time to be devoted to expanding on and mastering the material through collaborative learning exercises, projects, and discussions. Essentially, the homework that is typically done at home is done in the classroom, while the lectures that are usually done in the classroom are viewed at home.

https://www.teachthought.com/learning/10-pros-cons-flipped-classroom/

For a while now, the paradigm of ‘flipping’ the classroom and reversing the way teachers and lecturers traditionally approach developing students knowledge has been gaining quite a lot of credence in educational circles.

The flipped classroom has been made popular by Salman Khan and the Khan Academy and is based around the concept of students getting the input they would traditionally receive from the lecture or lesson in the form of videos or set texts that they study before class. Then in the classroom they do more practical work (similar to the kinds of tasks they would usually do as homework) while the teacher monitors and acts as support.

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/editorrachael/flipping-flipped-classroom

Apart from several interesting definitions we also realized that by using this method:

https://www.teachthought.com/learning/10-pros-cons-flipped-classroom/

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/editorrachael/flipping-flipped-classroom

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Students are more active participants in learning.

Interaction increases and students learn from one another.

Instructors and students get more feedback.

https://facultyinnovate.utexas.edu/flipped-classroom

So we were determined in flipping the Classroom alongside with all the work set within this project. As this was a project based on the deeper knowledge of the 4 natural elements: water, air, earth and fire; the idea was to create some specific and defined classes to apply during the study of the elements. This way each country was responsible to create the learning materials for a specific natural element (videos or other digital presentations and also checking worksheets) and also the lesson plans that would replace the traditional lecture lessons.

Having set the whole process we established a calendar to apply the questionnaires that would guide this case study in order to give us some hints on the progress of this teaching/learning method.

Schools involved in the Case Study (brief descriptions)

A) Alexandre Herculano School from Santarém, Portugal

Alexandre Herculano Schools Group was established in the academic year of 2001/2002. This group is an organizational unit with its own board of directors and management that comprises a total of 11 schools distributed over a large geographical area (urban and rural) somewhat dispersed that comprises about 1300 students. In Alexandre Herculano Group work around 160 teachers and 50 educational staff. In Alexandre Herculano's school, the main school, we have several educational resources for the benefit of students and a diversified educational offer, which includes arts, technology and sports with a good level of qualification framework teaching staff with specialized qualification and focused on the use of new technologies for communication, dissemination and teaching.

Apart from the mentioned above Alexandre Herculano school is also involved in bilingual teaching with several classes (kids learn some subjects in English) and has several classes that learn music with the collaboration of a Music school. Alexandre Herculano Schools Group has extensive experience in welcoming and working with students from different nationalities

https://facultyinnovate.utexas.edu/flipped-classroom

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and ethnicities, different cultures and social extracts and youth with special educational needs (multiple disabilities), promoting integration and equal opportunities among peers.

The School is also working in international projects such as eTwinning (for 10 years) and was awarded different quality labels (national, European and school label) and Erasmus+. From 2017 onwards the school is actively working on these projects as a coordinator (for the project 4Elements) and a partner (for the project No Place for Hate).

In Alexandre Herculano's school, the main school, there are several educational resources for the benefit of students: a school library /resource center, an auditorium, some ICT rooms (more recently was created a Future Classroom Lab), an health office, a maths lab and experimental sciences labs as well, a gymnasium, some sports fields, a fitness trail, a copy centre, a stationery, a canteen, a students room, a conflict management room and a playroom. There is also a considerable sports and cultural offer in which students can enroll after classes: several sports activities such as swimming, horse riding, boccia, badminton, football, basketball, handball, gymnastics, climbing, bike riding; and different clubs: eTwinning/Erasmus, Robotics, Environment, Chess and Theatre.

B) Základní škola from Trutnov, at the Czech Republic

Základní škola,Trutnov, Komenského 399 is a primary and lower secondary school located in North-east Bohemia in the second largest town of the region. The school provides education to children from 6 to 16 years and is currently frequented by 730 children divided in 36 classes (grades 1 - 9, 1 - 5 being the primary school, 6 – 9 being the lower secondary school). The basic segments are common classes.

The first class in each grade is a Sport class. Most pupils attending sport classes are members of sport clubs based at our school. The last class in some grades is a Special class for children with special learning needs due to their health problems, learning disabilities or their behavioural disorders. Besides sports (cross country skiing, rock climbing, kayaking, floorball, basketball) which are the main after school activities our school is also known for its active nonsporty afterschool life (theatre lessons, school choir, ceramic lessons, drawing classes, chess lessons, guitar lessons).

The school is very well equipped. Each teacher has his/her own computer, some also have iPads. There are computers in all classrooms. There are two PC rooms with 50 computers altogether. We have three tablet classes (each pupil has his/her own tablet). There are beamers in all classrooms and IT boards in twelve classrooms. We have Wi-fi coverage at school and in its surroundings.

The school arranges outdoor courses for older pupils (11-16 years old) that last a week. 6 th graders go to a tourist course, 7 th graders a ski course, 8 th graders a cycling course and 9 th graders a rafting course.

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Our school was active in former Comenius program and is active in current Erasmus+ program and in eTwinning. Some of our Comenius and Erasmus+ projects got awarded by national and international committees.

Our teaching staff is experienced and of high standard. At the present time we have 55 teachers who are authorized to other activities, such as: fostering allowance, ICT administration, department management, coordinating international projects, socio-pathological prevention etc.

The school has a part time school psychologist who works with kids with learning and behavioural problems and there are six assistants who help pupils with special learning needs during the lessons. Our school has extensive experience in working with children with special learning needs, who come from social unstable backgrounds or who are physical disabled. We also have “Conflict Management Office” composed of teachers and our school psychologist. In case of an indiscipline during the lessons they act immediately.

C) Ciro Scianna school from Bagheria, in Italy

Ciro Scianna school is located at Via De Spuches, 4 in Bagheria.

At the beginning, it was an agricultural vocational training school, established already in the school year 1931/1932 and dedicated to the hero Ciro Scianna, a military man from Bagheria who died in 1918 on Mount Asolone during the First World War and was awarded the gold medal for military valour. Ciro Scianna school had a temporary seat at the D’Angelo department store down Corso Butera, then it moved to the Farina Palace which was located in the upper part of Corso Butera. The location at Via De Spuches was built around the 1950s and has become the seat of the unified junior secondary school since 1962.

Bagheria is a little town around 15 kilometres far from Palermo. Actually, our school is a first level secondary music school, which includes 86 teachers and 718 students, as well as 15 administrative technical assistants.

Our school has a reduced number of immigrant students (5 in all from Venezuela, Belgium, Tunisia and Romania). There are 37 students with disabilities, of which fifteen with severity. The pupils with special needs are in all 20. Disabled students and those ones with special needs make up 7.2% of the school population. The inclusive education foresees the use of a ceramic laboratory. The school dropout rate is 2%.

The musical instrument lessons are carried out in the afternoon and include guitar, trumpet, piano, horn and sax. In addition, the school has created the Scianna Orchestra Project for some years now and so far has obtained awards and prizes also at a national level.

Great attention is given to foreign languages and the school organizes courses with the aim of getting Trinity and DELF certifications.

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The school has been registered for years on the platform eTwinning and several projects received European Quality Labels. Our school cooperates with other European schools in different Erasmus KA2 projects which have given the opportunity of several mobilities for teachers and students.

The students are different from the socio-cultural point of view. Only a few come from poor families while the majority don’t have particular economical problems. Among problematic situations, we have a lot of students who have low attention threshold and some of them are students with special needs.

D) Sint Lucas School from Eindhoven, at the Netherlands

SintLucas teaches in pre-vocational (12 to 16 year-old pupils) and vocational (16 to 20-year-old students) education, preparing the pupils and students for a future in the creative industry.

In school, the pre-vocational department has a part of the building separated from the vocational department. The school is located in the "creative heart of Eindhoven": Strijp-S. The pre-vocational department hosts 450 pupils and the pupils are supervised by a team of around 50 members, including teaching and supporting staff.

We like to challenge and support our pupils to achieve personal excellence. For a period of eight weeks, the pupils work on creative and general subjects. During their school week the pupils have what we call "GO-hours", during which they work collaboratively on projects. The eight weeks of the term are followed by a project week, in which outcomes are presented, especially to the pupils' families.

Parts of the curriculum is filled up with international context. Since 2010, international assignments have been intertwined into regular education. Our strength lies in the fact that we specialise in offering creative subjects, for instance art, 2D-3D, design and media.

We have a large local and regional function, because there are only few pre-vocational programs offered in the Netherlands. We present the opportunity for our pupils to move on to the vocational level within SintLucas creative community. Another strength of our school is the inclusive education we provide for students with special needs, either physically of cognitively. We have a staffed Internal Rebound Class for students to go to from 8:30, the start of the day, to 17:00, the end of the day. If, for any reason, a student can temporarily not function in class, the student has the Internal Rebound Class to go to. Furthermore, students who can no longer function at their own school for a longer period of time can get an external rebound at our school, in order to be in a different environment and get personal guidance back to the regular school system.

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Our education focuses on practical and creative work supported by a theoretical undertone, so that students with short attention span are able to work and learn without problems.

SintLucas with its international projects focuses on involving students with fewer opportunities and students facing various difficulties and obstacles. The difficulties our students have to face are social, economic and cultural. Our school has been discussing the difficulties and the support we could provide the students facing those. In order to tackle social obstacles, activities with a focus on social inclusion are put in-act in order to facilitate the inclusion of the target group, working on the students’ buildup of their self-esteem. Similar action is taken to fight cultural differences.

The participating groups of students in the Case Study

A) From Portugal

Two different teachers per class (English and Science teachers) and two classes of students:

5B/6B: these students aged between 11-12 were involved in the process at the beginning of the 2017 school year and remained within this project until its ending in June 2019.

The class 5B started with 21 students and increased to 25 students when it became class 6B. Almost all students were hardworking and very interested students, eager to learn and to participate in different activities.

8C/9C: these students aged between 13-14 were involved in the process at the beginning of the 2017 school year and remained within this project until its ending in June 2019.

Within this class there were 22 students. The majority of them were hardworking and interested students.

B) From the Czech Republic

Class 6B/7B: these students aged between 11-12 were involved in the process at the beginning of the 2017 school year and remained within this project until its ending in June 2019.

Class 6B/7B was formed by 26 students, 8 were students with special learning needs and there were 5 with unstable social background and/or one-parent family. What we observed

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during the project was also extremely high percentage of sickness amongst these kids who were often absent and thus not all of them could properly participate in the project activities.

Class 8A/9A: these students aged between 13-14 were involved in the process at the beginning of the 2017 school year and remained within this project until its ending in June 2019.

Class 8A/9A was formed by 21 students and was a selective class for students with sport skills, 3 of them were students with special learning needs and 3 of them were with unstable social background and/or one-parent family.

C) From Italy

Class 1I and 2L: these two different classes (grade 6 and 7) were involved in the project during the first year. The 1I was formed of 29 students aged eleven years old while the 2L by 24 students aged twelve yrs old.

Class 2I and 2L: these two different classes (grade 7) were involved in the project during the second year. The 2I was formed of 28 students. In addition, two students for all the second classes set up the etwinning club and worked with a Science teacher and the help of two other teachers for a total of 25 students. Other students from other classes were involved in artistic activities such as the creation of the project logo. There were also five students with special needs who were successfully involved in the project. The environmental awareness of all the students involved has also increased considerably.

D) From the Netherlands

As preparatory work for every element at least two groups of twenty-five students and two teachers were involved in our first and second year (students aged twelve to fourteen).

During the mobilities six students were taken as well as two guiding staff members. The students’ selection was on a voluntary basis. During the exchange at SintLucas eight students and three teachers were included in the program, as well as our two team leaders.

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Expectations towards the Learning Process

Prior to the Flipped Classroom lessons we decided to apply a questionnaire about the ways students are learning nowadays and what were their expectations towards new teaching/learning methods.

The starting point was that lessons are being too much theoretical. Due to this fact different questions came up: is this a good method for all students? What do students need? How do they learn better? By listening? By doing?

So based upon different aspects we decided to test a different and still new learning method in our schools: the Flipped Classroom. Before actually doing it we wanted to know about students own expectations towards the learning process so we created questions that were answered by the students before getting in touch with the new method.

Questionnaire 1_Ways of learning

It was applied prior to the Flipped Classroom method started to be tested.

Question 1

When you are in class, do you think you learn better when?

a) The teacher explains the topics b) You research about the topics and the teacher helps you in the process c) You fill in questionnaires and read a lot about the topics d) In group work, you research and present the results to the class

The results are presented in a global way, taking into account all students involved in this Study.

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We can observe the importance of the teacher’s role in the learning process of students and consider that students face the teacher as the centre of this learning process.

Question 2

Which do you consider are the most important learning tools in class?

Order them (1 is the most important, 5 is the less important)

a) The teacher’s explanation b) The coursebook c) The worksheets d) Digital material (videos, Powerpoints, …) e) Real life moments (roleplaying, doing experiments, …)

Opinions are much divided when students are asked about the most important learning tools. They are once again focused on the teacher’s explanations, more than on other learning sources.

Question 3

Have you ever heard about the Flipped Classroom strategy? Yes No

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Question 4

Do you usually work using the Project Work methodology? Yes No

Question 5

Outside the classroom, when you have to study for your tests, which strategies do you usually use (tick 3 that you consider most important):

a) I read my book b) I read my own notes c) I copy my notes d) I summarize the most important aspects e) I do written exercises f) I memorize all important information g) I underline all important information h) I ask someone to study with me (asking me questions, …)

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Flipped Classroom Method

Bearing in mind the above results the goal was to implement and let students get in touch with a new learning method. We knew they could find it different at first due to the fact that they are much focused on the teacher so we reversed the process to focus on some very simple aspects that allowed us to study the evolution from the first moment until the last one.

We were going to implement the method in different and specific moments. So the big strategy was to create 4 different moments (one for each natural Element) and to test the method with the students.

Each partner was responsible to create a learning folder consisting of two digital presentations for students to access and watch wherever and whenever they felt like and some checking material to check their own learning process after having watched the presentations. In class the teacher would prepare a different learning context: doing experiments or doing a group work. The idea was that the teacher wouldn’t be the focus of the learning process but only the facilitator. He would attend to any doubts students might present and implement a different type of class work.

Questionnaire 1: Flipped Classroom Learning_Water This was the starting point of the application of the Flipped Classroom method so this first questionnaire was thought to collect students’ first opinions. The method was applied as well as the questionnaire in January or February of 2018 according to each school’s internal planning. The learning materials and the questionnaires applied were the same for the 4 schools involved even though they were translated into students’ native language so no comprehension issues might come up during the testing period.

Question 1

Did you have any problems watching the videos?

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Question 2

When watching the videos, did you had any doubts?

Question 3

When watching the videos, did you miss the teacher’s presence?

Question 4

Did you understand all necessary concepts?

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Question 5

Did you understand the questions on the worksheets?

Question 6

Did you have any difficulties filling in the worksheets?

Question 7

Did you have to ask some questions to the teacher in class?

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Question 8

Which do you think are the main advantages of this learning method?

Because this was the first moment students were in contact with this method we wanted students to give simple opinions about it. These are some examples.

“Fun method, it helps to remember new schoolwork.”

“More time in biology/geography lesson for discussion and experiments”

“More time and a quiet place for watching the video at home”

“Learning is easier when you watch videos, no waste of paper”

“More time in lesson”

“Watch it anytime at home”

“You already know what will happen in class”

Question 9

Which do you think are the main problems of this learning method?

“Students have to more work at home”

“Students don´t make any notes in exercise books”

“New topic isn´t explained before watching the video at home”

Question 10

Did you find the class activities more interesting (considering that you had learned the concepts at home)?

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Question 11

Which activity in class did you find more interesting?

“Experiment, game with cards, discussion”

“Experiment, watching videos, discussion”

“Drawing the cycle, experiments”

Questionnaire 2: Flipped Classroom Learning_Earth

April-May 2018

After having asked in a more exhaustive way about the first moment we decided that the next questionnaires would focus on some very specific aspects of the Method so they were exactly the same during the three application moments that followed. This way we could make a final comparison among the three next moments of application and get some overall conclusions.

Question 1

Did you have any problems:

watching the videos?

filling in questionnaires?

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working in group?

doing the experiments?

Question 2

What was the activity (or activities) you liked the most?

Students could choose more than one option.

a) Watching the videos: 31% of the students chose this as a valid option.

b) Filling in the questionnaires: 8% of the students chose this as a valid option.

c) Working in group: 46% of the students chose this as a valid option.

d) Doing the experiments: 44% of the students chose this as a valid option.

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Question 3

Do you think you understood all needed concepts?

Question 4

Comparing to regular teaching (all explanations given by the teacher) do you prefer this learning process?

Question 5

In your opinion, considering it in a global way how did this learning occurred?

a) Very well

b) Well

c) OK

d) Not very well

e) I didn’t like it

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Questionnaire 3: Flipped Classroom Learning_Fire

January-February 2019

Question 1


a) watching the videos?

b) filling in questionnaires?

c) working in group?

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d) doing the experiments?

Question 2


Take into consideration that students might chose more than just one option.




d) Doing the experiments: 85,6% of the students chose this as a valid option.

Question 3


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Question 4


Question 5


a) Very well:

b) Well

c) OK

d) Not very well


Questionnaire 4: Flipped Classroom Learning_Air April-May 2019

Question 1


watching the videos?

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filling in questionnaires?

working in group?

doing the experiments?

Question 2





d) Doing the experiments: 85% of the students chose this as a valid option.

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Question 3


Question 4


Question 5


a) Very well

b) Well

c) OK

d) Not very well


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Overall Results

Taking into consideration all the results gathered throughout the application of the method and the questionnaires from April-May 2018 until April-May 2019 (3 specific moments), these are conclusions we obtained.

Question 1

This was a quality control question to make sure that external issues would not influence the students’ opinions.

The results are similar from the first moment until the last one so students had no major problems watching the videos, filling in the checking questionnaires, working in groups or doing the suggested experiments. All adjustments prepared by the teachers facilitated the application of the method.

Question 2

According to the table below and taking into consideration the three moments that followed the first contact with this type of learning (Flipped Classroom Water) we may suggest that students are most pleased to learn using this method because they got the chance to work more often in groups (discussing with their peers) and doing experiments (different activities from the ones they are used to do). This mostly happened due to the strategies used that gave the teachers and the students more free time inside the classroom to use on other type of activities/strategies.

Question: What was the activity (or activities) you liked the most?

Earth FC Fire FC Air FC

Watching videos 31% 15% 13%

Questionnaires 8% 11% 10%

Group Work 46% 82% 87%

Experiments 44% 86% 85%

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Question 3

In their opinion students considered that the information contained on the digital presentations was accurate and adequate to them because they didn’t have much problems understanding it and they maintained mostly an affirmative answer from the first to the last moment.

Question: Do you think you understood all needed concepts?

Question 4

According to the results obtained there’s a clear positive progression of the perception towards this method and students get more convinced on learning through it.

Question: Comparing to regular teaching (all explanations given by the teacher) do you prefer this learning process?

Question 5

Most students considered this type of learning to have occurred in a “very good” or “good” way. These are significant results considering these students were not familiarized with this type of learning. Relating this to the above question results students are motivated to learn through the use of the Flipped Classroom method.

Question: In your opinion, considering it in a global way how did this learning occurred?

ATTACHMENTS

4 ELEMENTS – FOR A GREEN PLANET! Erasmus+ 2017-1-PT01-KA219-035800

Ways of learning – Questionnaire 1 When you are in class, do you think you learn better when?

a) The teacher explains the topics b) You research about the topics and the teacher helps you in the process c) You fill in questionnaires and read a lot about the topics d) In group work, you research and present the results to the class

2 Which do you consider are the most important learning tools in class? Order them (1 is the most important, 5 is the less important)

a) The teacher’s explanation b) The coursebook c) The worksheets d) Digital material (videos, Powerpoints, …) e) Real life moments (roleplaying, doing experiments, …)

3 Have you ever heard about the Flipped Classroom strategy? Yes No 4 Do you usually work using the Project Work methodology? Yes No 5 Outside the classroom, when you have to study for your tests, which strategies

do you usually use (tick 3 that you consider most important):

a) I read my book b) I read my own notes c) I copy my notes d) I summarize the most important aspects e) I do written exercises f) I memorize all important information g) I underline all important information h) I ask someone to study with me (asking me questions, …)

ATTACHMENT 1


Flipped Classroom Learning_Water (Students) 1 Did you have any problems watching the videos? Yes No 1.1. If you answered Yes, what kind of problems did you have?

2 When watching the videos, did you have any doubts? Yes No 3 When watching the videos, did you miss the teacher’s presence? Yes No 4 Did you understand all necessary concepts? Yes No 5 Did you understand the questions on the worksheets? Yes No 6 Did you have any difficulties filling in the worksheets? Yes No 7 Did you have to ask some questions to the teacher in class? Yes No 8 Which do you think are the main advantages of this learning method?

9 Which do you think are the main problems of this learning method?

ATTACHMENT 2

10 Did you find the class activities more interesting (considering that you had learned the concepts at home)?

Yes No 11. Which activity in class did you find more interesting?


Name ___________________________________ nr _____ Class ________

Flipped Classroom Questionnaire

You had a new contact with the Flipped Classroom lessons. Please answer the following questions. 1. Did you have any problems: a) watching the videos Yes / No b) filling in the questionnaires Yes / No c) working in group Yes / No d) doing the experiments Yes / No 2. What was the activity (or activities) you liked the most? (You can choose more than one). a) Watching the videos b) Filling in the questionnaires c) Working in group d) Doing the experiments 3. Do you think you understood all needed concepts? Yes / No 4. Comparing to regular teaching (all explanations given by the teacher) do you prefer this learning process?

Yes / No 5. In your opinion, considering it in a global way how did this learning occured? (Choose one answer). a) Very well b) Well c) OK d) Not very well e) I didn’t like it

ATTACHMENT 3

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Working teams from each country

Portugal Manuela Farinha (Coordinator)

Teresa Raquel Pimenta Maria Isabel Carvalho

Sandra Canas Sérgio Coelho

Czech Republic

Jana Fišerová (Coordinator) Věra Krátká

Adriana Imlaufová Lenka Jírová

Petr Horčička

Netherlands Inge Berkers (Coordinator)

Bas van den Hout Freek Lamberts

Roel Bierhof Stan Casamento

Theo van Santvoort

Italy Maria Luisa Florio (Coordinator)

Fabiola Falleta Carmelo Scibetta

Clementina Castrone Cinzia Rizzo Tea Zocco

KA2 - Cooperation for Innovation and the Exchange of Good Practices KA219 - Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

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