Abstract:

This study explored the flipped-classroom approach to mathematics instruction with a class of 43 Grade 7 high school students in Trinidad and Tobago, to address the problem of low student engagement in learning activities within and outside the classroom, as evident in their non-completion of seatwork and homework, tardiness to lessons, and disruptive classroom behaviours. Student engagement was low, and students struggled to respond to the mathematics teacher’s traditional “one size fits all” instructional approach. Their mathematical reasoning and problem-solving skills were underdeveloped, which led to unsatisfactory mathematics performance. Research suggests that millennial students’ exposure to and use of technology tools outside the classroom may influence how they received, interpreted, processed and used information. Flipping the classroom is a contemporary pedagogical method that uses asynchronous video lectures and practice problems as homework, to support active, group-based problem-solving activities in the classroom. A quasi-experimental mixed-methods action research study design allowed researchers to collect data about students’ experiences with the flipped classroom approach, engagement in learning mathematics, and mathematics performance over four-weeks. Students were all female and varied in age from 12 to 14 years old. Their mathematics performance typically ranged from 5% to 90%, with a termly class average of 70%. There were differences in their socio-economic status that ranged from low to high-income family homes. One student did not have internet access at home. The teacher to create and populated a website with videos, interactive PowerPoint presentations, blogs, quizzes and other e-content related to Consumer Arithmetic to introduce students to pre-requisite ideas at home, in preparation for subsequent lessons at school. Activities were designed to stimulate their mathematical thinking and communication and develop their mathematical understanding and reasoning. The teacher responded individually and collectively to students’ responses on blogs and other activities to support learning. Semi-structured individual and focus group interviews, and teacher and student journals provided qualitative data on students’ experiences and engagement that were thematically analysed. Observational data were summarized using descriptive statistics and frequency counts to track changes in engagement over time. Paired-samples t-tests compared pre-intervention and post-intervention mathematics performance using students’ average performance scores and a summative assessment. Data integration occurred after all data were analysed to report findings. Over time, there was an observed increase in student engagement in classroom-based learning activities. Students’ mathematical reasoning and problem-solving improved based on their blog posts and classroom discussions about mathematical concepts and problems, and their solutions to mathematical problems related to Consumer Arithmetic. Though there was no significant increase in the post-intervention class mean, greater performance gains were observed for typically low achieving students than high achieving students. Therefore, flipping the mathematics classroom is recommended as a teachers’ tool to actively engaging adolescent millennial students in learning mathematics at school and at home, and improving their mathematics performance, particularly with groups exceeding 30 students.

Keywords:

Flipped classroom, mathematics, student engagement, mathematics performance, Trinidad and Tobago.