Abstract—Flipping or Inverting the classroom as a method in an introductory material science course asks students to study the science of engineering materials on their own. In class we take time to discuss questions and solve problems or work on hands-on lectures or exercises in class. In blended-learning scenarios students use different materials to study and understand the science in theory and then the classroom lectures offer the opportunity for students to comprehend the principle of different aspects in material science and apply their knowledge. A high number and variety of teaching materials aims at different learning skills of the students and meets the diversity of a first year class. Therefore teaching materials and micro-module lectures to individually chose, combine and study from a distance are provided in a moodle based course. To assess the learning progress prior to each class peer response is used. Evening tests after each inverted classroom session, self-testing along with exercises and worked solutions allow students to control their learning progress. The inverted classroom approach may be applied to a choice of themes taught the first semester and both students success along with the fun of learning and teaching throughout the first year were increased.

Index Terms—Inverted classroom, moodle, teaching material, introductory course.

The author is with HTW Berlin, University of Applied Sciences Berlin, Wilhelminenhofstraße 75A, 12459 Berlin, Germany (email: anja.pfennig@htw-berlin.de).

Cite: Anja Pfennig, "Catching Students in an Inverted Classroom Environment," International Journal of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 85-90, 2017.