The use of the flipped classroom in university education: filling gaps in elementary mathematics content

Abstract

This study investigated how the main characteristics attributed to the flipped classroom methodology – such as personalisation of teaching, student autonomy, teacher/student and student/student interaction and learning improvement – ​​were identified by the participants of a short course offered by a teaching project at a federal university in southern Brazil. Thirty-three pedagogical videos were made and made available, which fully addressed the content of the basic mathematics module, which was usually offered by the project in the face-to-face modality. The videos corresponding to each flipped class were sent to the research participants in advance, and the respective face-to-face meetings were aimed at clarifying doubts and applying the contents covered in the videos. The subjects of this research were 35 undergraduates, and the data collection instruments were interviews, qualitatively analysed through the content analysis technique, in addition to questionnaires and observations. Students reported having identified greater customising of teaching, increased autonomy and quality in learning, improved interaction between teacher and student and peer interaction in classes in which the flipped classroom methodology was adopted, compared to traditional lectures. This was the first experience of this project with hybrid teaching and most of the students participating in the research reported having no previous experience with the flipped classroom methodology. This work is part of a master's thesis presented in the Postgraduate Program in Mathematics Education (PPGEMAT/IFM) in February 2020.