(290a) Shifting Student Behavior with Guided Activities in Flipped Classrooms

Students at the sophomore level are often beginning to make a difficult transition into all new content (vector calculus, calculus based physics, organic chemistry, and the first core chemical engineering class) where their prior study skills do not serve them well.  While active learning strategies in the classroom can model problem solving behavior, students still struggle.  In the context of this scenario, flipped classroom activities were implemented in a Material and Energy Balances course where active learning strategies were robustly deployed.  The flipped class elements included reading assignments, pre-class quizzes on the reading material, and then substantially weighted quizzes at the beginning of class on that same pre-class content.  The quizzes were aligned directly with the pre-class quiz and the reading material and were low on Bloom's taxonomy. 

Data were collected about student access to all course materials, their scores on pre-quizzes, scores on in class quizzes, and scores on midterm exams.  Patterns emerged that revealed that some students did not realize the importance of the in class quizzes on their final grade, while other students substantially changed their access patterns to content as they struggled with the material.  Open ended surveys captured the snap shot comments of students as they struggled to balance school, work and life.  The work here indicates that focused discussions with students should be designed on topics of time management, how to be prepared for classes, and how to succeed the rocky transition into being a successful engineering student.