Giving Compass' Take:

• Recently, 'flipped instruction' is becoming a more popular technique in K-12 math classes. Teachers are now sending students home with lecture notes and videos so they can spend more classroom time going over difficult concepts.

• What are the benefits of flipped instruction? What are some potential barriers to learning?

• Read about finding the secret to finding 'aha' moments in math classes. 

Flipped instruction, a technique in which teachers send students home with information typically given in lectures and save class time for discussion, is becoming more popular in classrooms.

Corey Webel, an associate professor in the College of Education and the Director of the Elementary Mathematics Specialist Certification program at the University of Missouri, studied a fifth-grade teacher’s implementation of flipped instruction with mathematics over the course of a school year.

“Flipping a classroom can be an opportunity for teachers to be creative in how they check in with students and plan for responding to their thinking. For example, a teacher might notice the class is having trouble understanding a certain math concept, and he or she can spend more time working with the class on it.”

Further, sending learning material, particularly videos, home with children can help parents understand unfamiliar methods for solving math problems and provide better assistance to their child, Webel says.

Webel suggests that teachers considering flipped instruction think through specific strategies they can implement to help their students, such as embedding assessment questions in their video tutorials.

Read the full article about changing math class by Cailin Riley-Missouri at Futurity