Implementing the Explore, Flip, Apply Methodology: The Flip

How to conduct the Flip Phase

This is blog number two in a three part series. Again, this will be more social studies specific, but I will give examples of this concept works in different classes. 

As stated in the first blog post found here, Inquiry is what hooks students and drives their learning deeper. This is accomplished during the Explore Phase. However, what if a student or students are stuck on a concept? Then this is where the video (or the Flip) comes in. 

In most Flipped Classrooms, the video drives the instructional practice, not inquiry. So in this case, the video is used differently. Instead of driving instruction, it helps address misconceptions that students have during the Explore Phase. This graphic explains how the video fits within the Explore, Flip, Apply methodology.

There are two important points to this graphic. As stated above, the instructional video address misconceptions that have arisen during the Explore Phase, and hits on the lower Bloom’s taxonomy of Understanding. The second important component of the video is that students reflect on the content that was delivered by watching the video. This is very vital step that you must have your students do. If they do not interact with the video in some way, they will not remember and understand the information as well. Since Ramsey is a Chemistry teacher, he has his students answer Algorithmic questions, conceptual questions, and of course student questions. To collect all this data, Ramsey uses Google Forms, as well as do I. 

Here is an example from my class: At the beginning of the year, we learn about the 5 Themes of Geography. This is the backbone for my courses and it’s important that my students have a firm grasp of this concept. During the Explore Phase, we watch a video clip from the YouTube Channel The Edge of Farming. It shows how a family commercial farm in North Dakota has to battle the elements to get their crop of corn planted and harvested in time. By watching this 3 min clip, students are exposed to the different themes and don’t even know it. I purposely withhold information from them so that they can be inquisitive. As they watch the video in class, they have to write down what they think are the 5 Themes. Then in their groups, they must discuss and try to narrow down what they have come up with. Then we go over it in class. After the students have guessed at what the themes are, I assign them a video to watch describing the Five Themes of Geography. While they watch the video, which is around 5 min in length, I have them do two tasks. Task one is take notes on the entire vodcast and write down the questions you may have. The second task is they must fill out a Google Form by answering summarizing . Here is a screen shot of my Google Form. 

I have them take notes on paper instead of on the Google Form is for two reasons. The first is that my students need to work on learning different note-taking strategies, so in some of my videos, I will give them suggestions on to which style to try out with this video. Secondly, a recent study came out stating that students remember more when taking notes on paper as compared to taking them on a computer. Here is a link to that article. 

Then as the graphic implies, Phase 3, the Apply Phase is tailored by the students questions the next class period. 

Here are some other examples from other academic disciplines: 

Science: Lets say you show your students a chemical equation happening and after figuring out what chemicals and elements were used, they are still having trouble with the how the whole process is working. In your video, would walk the students through a sample chemical equation or two and then give them a question to try themselves. If they still have questions and are struggling with the concept, then you can start with that in class the next day. 

Math: After watching and exploring about the water filling up the tank, depending on what concept you are teaching here, your video would walk the students through how to solve a similar problem or two and then give them one to solve on their own. All the while, students are placing answers and questions in their Google Form. 

English: Going back to my original example of using poems, as you explore different types of poem structure, your video could be the teacher writing one for the students, highlighting important ideas and elements. Then in the Google Form, assigned from questions, students could write their own poem or summarize how to create a great poem. 

Important elements to remember about the videos. One, keep them short. Since these videos are designed to address misconnections in class and not teach new content, they should not be very long in length. I would say less than eight minutes at most for high school and under 6 for middle school. Now obviously this will change depending on the students understanding of the material. Second, make the movies from the hip. What I mean here, is you don’t need to jazz them up with any special affects or editing. A rough edit is more than enough. You are not looking to win an Emmy here. You are just getting your students to understand a concept. 

And one of the best parts of this leaning cycle is if they don’t need a video to address misconceptions, then you don’t need to make one!