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| Han Ji-hye, right, teaches her classmates about tropical savanna climate during a geography class at Baebang High School in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, Oct. 31. / Courtesy of Baebang High School |
Flipped learning immerses students in class
By Chung Hyun-chae
ASAN, South Chungcheong Province ― Contrary to concerns that students can hardly concentrate on studying in activity-centered classrooms, students at Baebang High School in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, said they gain a deeper knowledge of geography while teaching their friends during class.
"While explaining what I've studied to my friends, I can summarize the main points of the learning material," Han Ji-hye, 17, a second-grader at the high school, told The Korea Times during her geography class on Oct. 31.
Han was explaining to her classmates about the tropical savanna climate during the class. That way, she repeated what she had learned to five groups of students.
According to Han, every student should study the section assigned to them before coming to class so that they can explain their part to other students. Every time different students play the role of "teacher."
This kind of learning is called "flipped learning," in which students learn new content in advance outside of the classroom and discuss it in class, engaging in "peer teaching," which allows them to learn from one another.
"I realized that the memory lingered longer when teaching my friends the same thing several times and being taught by them than when I passively listened to lectures," Han added.
Geum Min-jeong, Han's classmate, said she can study geography, a subject which requires memorization, more efficiently in that she only has to study some parts of the subject and then listen to her friends who studied different parts.
"Knowing basic concepts and terms is not enough to explain to other people; I have to fully understand the material," Geum said. "The students, my peers, who can explain in plain words, help me understand the material better."
Geum said the flipped classroom has encouraged her to study even harder not to cause any trouble for her friends.
"If I don't study and prepare for the class, I will waste other students' time during the class, which motivates me to study harder," she said.
Geum said her average geography score increased by over 10 points after taking part in the flipped classroom.
For Im Su-bin, another student, flipped learning is effective in that she can ask questions whenever she has any.
"Unlike in the past when I hesitated to ask a single question of the teacher during class, now I can ask my friends freely and we can hunt for the right answers together," Im said.
For this, students are allowed to use their smartphones only during the geography class so that they can search on the internet to find answers to their questions.
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| Cho Mi-kyeong |
She adopted the method after taking a training session at the regional education office in November 2014 on how to run the flipped classroom.
The basic concept of the flipped classroom is to reverse the traditional education model by delivering instructional content, often online, outside of the classroom. In Cho's class, however, students do almost everything. They make teaching and learning materials without any content provided by the teacher.
"The key in running a flipped classroom is to reduce teacher-led education and to allow students to teach each other and pursue the quest for knowledge on their own," Cho said.
More than five teachers from other schools in the province visited Cho's class on the same day to adapt her teaching methods in their classes.
"I saw that students can improve their presentation skills as well from the flipped classroom," Seo Eun-soon, a teacher at Yeonhwa Elementary School, said.
