Board 85: Preliminary Study of Active Flipped Learning in Engineering Mechanics

The flipped classroom has been introduced to promote collaborative learning and higherorder learning objectives. In contrast to the traditional classroom, the flipped classroom has students watch prerecorded lecture videos before coming to class, and the classroom becomes the place to work through problems, advance concepts, and engage in collaborative learning. In this paper, the active flipped learning was applied in engineering mechanics class to combine flipped classroom with active learning to establish an active flipped learning (AFL) model, aiming to promote active learning. Eighty sophomore engineering students, most of whom are African-American students, participated the active flipped learning. To compare the effect of AFL, the traditional teaching was applied in the first half semester and preand post-tests were used to evaluate their learning performance. After the mid-term exams, five flipped modules were applied to five topics. All of the students attended these flipped modules. During each of the flipped models, students watched lecture videos before class and conducted a quiz after the video as well as raised and discussed unclear questions in the course management system CANVAS. The instructor analyzed the students’ quiz results and developed the in-class exercises. In the lecture time, the instructor focused on the subjects that were problems to students from their quiz results and questions raised after group discussion. Then the instructor used question sets for group activities and discussions. The student group discussion was led by the assigned group leaders. Preand post-tests were conducted for the AFL. The survey results were analyzed to compare students’ learning engagement, empowerment, self-efficacy, and satisfaction between the traditional classroom and with the AFL. It was found that the AFL model, by taking advantage of advanced technology, is a convenient and professional avenue for engineering students to strengthen their academic confidence and self-efficacy in Engineering Mechanics by actively participating in learning and fostering their deep understanding of engineering statics and dynamics.