Reflections on a first-time flip in a differential equations classroom

Reflections are presented on the first time flipping of an introductory Ordinary Differential Equations course. Assessment results, student motivation and student attitudes are compared between flipped and traditional learning pedagogies in this course over two terms at a small technical university in the northeast United States. Assessments and the instructor were identical between sections with the two pedagogies. The results of most of the assessments were found to be invariant with pedagogy with the exception of the final exam for the first term studied. Results of that assessment showed a nearly 17% lower score in the flipped pedagogy section compared to the traditional section. An increase in student motivation levels, as measured by the Situational Motivation Scale, showed modestly higher motivation levels among the students in the flipped sections, particularly toward the later weeks of the course. Instructor inexperience with the flipped model as well as the heterogeneity of student learning preferences may have contributed to these results.

本文针对入门级常微分方程（Ordinary Differential Equations）课程首次实施翻转课堂教学的实践展开反思。本研究在美国东北部一所小型工科大学的两个学期内，对比了该课程中翻转课堂与传统讲授两种教学模式下的评估结果、学生学习动机与学习态度。两种教学模式对应的授课班级，其考核方案与授课教师均保持一致。研究发现，多数考核的评估结果未因教学法不同而产生显著差异，仅首个研究学期的期末考试是例外。该学期的期末考试结果显示，翻转课堂班级的平均成绩较传统班级低近17%。通过情境动机量表（Situational Motivation Scale）测得的学生动机水平结果表明，翻转课堂班级的学生动机水平略有提升，尤其在课程后期几周更为明显。授课教师对翻转教学模式缺乏经验，以及学生学习偏好的异质性，或是造成上述研究结果的潜在原因。