Effectiveness of flipped classroom: comparison between secondary school and university students

Abstract

Recent research has indicated that students’ perceptions of flipped classroom are mixed but positive in general. There is also a tendency that students prefer in-person lectures to video lectures and interactive classroom activities are most favored. Research evidence has also shown greater improvement of students’ learning in the flipped classroom as compared to the traditional classroom. However, most of these studies mainly focused on either secondary school students or university students, comparisons of students’ perceived effectiveness of flipped classroom between both groups are hardly found.

The present study aims to compare the effectiveness of flipped classroom as perceived by local secondary school and university students. A total of 130 secondary school students and 17 university students participated in the flipped classroom. The evaluation was based on students’ perception on the effectiveness of flipped classroom, emotional engagement and behavioral engagement. In general, the ratings by university students are significantly higher than that of secondary school students, except for the statement of paying more attention in flipped classes than traditional classes; a higher rating is found in the secondary student data. This finding implies that flipped classroom is perceived to be more effective by university students than that of secondary school students. However, flipped classes may have a stronger effect on drawing secondary students’ attention in class.