Flipping the Large-Enrollment Introductory Physics Classroom

Abstract

Most STEM students experience the introductory physics sequence in large-enrollment (N $\gtrsim$ 100 students) classrooms, led by one lecturer and supported by a few teaching assistants. This work describes methods and principles we used to create an effective "flipped classroom" in large- enrollment introductory physics courses by replacing a majority of traditional lecture time with in-class student-driven activity worksheets. In this work, we compare student learning in courses taught by the authors with the flipped classroom pedagogy versus a more traditional pedagogy. By comparing identical questions on exams, we find significant learning gains for students in the student-centered flipped classroom compared to students in the lecturer-centered traditional classroom. Furthermore, we find that the gender gap typically seen in the introductory physics sequence is significantly reduced in the flipped classroom.