Abstract:

In this study, the perception of the students of the 3rd course subject "Natural Sciences in the Classroom of Primary Education I" about the implementation of the flipped classroom technique, the use of illustrative videos and the interactive simulation tool PhET in order to complement the teacher's explanations were analyzed. The subject corresponds to the Degree of Primary Education, taught at the Faculty of Education of Bilbao, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). To this end, two questionnaires were carried out before and after the implementation of the activities, using the techniques described. It should be mentioned that out of the 30 academic weeks the subject comprehended, 7 took place entirely online, since within such period, from the 14th of March 2020 onwards, the state of alarm derived from the COVID-19 pandemic was established. This resulted in a more intensive implementation of the aforementioned activities, that were online supported on eGela, the Moodle platform of the UPV/ EHU.

Out of the 55 enrolled students, 46 of them answered the initial questionnaire and less than the half, specifically 22, answered the final questionnaire. The weighted average of their motivation, calculated as the number of Likert scale points assigned to the item (1 the least and 5 the most) divided by the maximum number of possible points, fell from 71% to 50%, possibly due to the stress caused by switching to entirely online teaching.

The overall students’ assessment of the flipped teaching, the use of videos and the PhET tool, calculated from the final survey results in a similar way to the motivation, were around 50%. Among the characteristics of the flipped classroom, the students positively valued their ability to enhance their autonomy and gave it a weighted average of 66%. The capacity of this resource was ranked above to promote their collaborative attitude or motivation (around 50%) their, effort and understanding (39%). However, both PhET and the use of explanatory videos obtained their highest score precisely in this last item (57% and 52% respectively), thus the combined implementation of the flipped classroom together with the PhET simulations and the videos seem to be appropriate or to complement each other.

Keywords:

Educational innovation, higher education, flipped teaching, interactive simulation tools, students perception, videos.