The Flipped Class A Method to Address the Challenges of an Undergraduate Statistics Course

• Published in: Teaching of psychology Vol. 40; no. 3; pp. 193 - 199
• Main Author: Wilson, Stephanie Gray
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.07.2013; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Active Learning; Class Activities; College Instruction; College Mathematics; College students; Course Organization; Courses; Curricula; Instructional Effectiveness; Knowledge; Mathematics Instruction; Social sciences education; Statistics; Student Attitudes; Teaching Methods; Undergraduate Students; flipped classroom; application of statistics; active learning; instructional practices; statistics
• ISSN: 0098-6283; 1532-2802; 1532-8023
• DOI: 10.1177/0098628313487461

Undergraduate statistics courses are perceived as challenging by both students and instructors. Students’ attitudes, motivation, math anxiety, and preparedness can negatively impact the student and instructor experience and have the potential to negatively impact student learning. This article describes an attempt to address some of these challenges through structural and procedural changes to an undergraduate statistics course that is required for social science majors. The traditional lecture/homework structure of the course was “flipped” so that the majority of basic knowledge acquisition moved out of the classroom, making room for interactive activities during class time. The described changes had a positive impact on students’ attitudes toward the class and instructor as well as on students’ performance in the class.