Abstract:

An active learning based methodology has been designed and implemented for Thermal Engineering teaching by a collaborative group of teachers from the Thermal engineering Department at the University of the Basque Country. The methodology has been successfully implemented in all Engineering Schools of the 3 different Campuses the University is spread across.

The flipped learning methodology is based on 3 columns: the first one consists in extracting the theoretical and mathematics expositions out of class to the personal student’s workspace. For that purpose, a YouTube channel has been created for the courses where the methodology has been implemented. These video tutorials are used to introduce the theory before class so that the class is used to develop cooperative activities.

The second action was monitoring the level of comprehension of the video-tutorials from the students by using Socrative type test at the beginning of each class, during the first 10-15 minutes. The questions of those tests were related to the video tutorials contents in order to check the partial assimilation of the concepts explained in the video tutorials. The results of the test were discussed in class, before starting with the cooperative activities, to complete the understanding of the theory introduced through video tutorials. This way, the first action is assessed using Socrative platform so as to select the most appropriate activity for the third action.

The third action consisted in substituting the theoretical and mathematical developments extracted from the class to the YouTube channel, by a set of activities to be developed in class under the guidance of the teacher. These activities are based on guided problem-solving, the students work in groups composed of 3 or 4 pupils.

All these actions and the generated learning material have been prepared in Basque, Spanish and English languages.

Keywords:

Flipped learning, active learning, cooperative activities.