Sciences come alive for first-year university students through flipped classroom

This paper discusses an initiative implemented for on-campus first-year nursing and midwifery students studying Human Body, a course which covers core Anatomy and Physiology, at a South Australian university. The initiative implemented was flipping the classroom with the objective of facilitating active learning. Formal lectures were replaced by student-centred activities that encouraged studying the topics before coming to class, discussing their understanding and misconceptions, and determining the new learning that was achieved during class. A post-flip classroom survey was used to gauge the impact of the initiative on students. Of the 532 students enrolled, 188 students completed the questionnaire for a 35% response rate. The survey queried students’ views about the flipped classroom, their experiences with the teaching format, the learning that transpired, engagement with content and study materials, what they liked about it, impact on their test scores, and areas to improve the initiative. Findings showed 60% preferred the flipped classroom approach. Students were actively engaged with and challenged by the content. They actively participated and learned, and found the flipped classroom to be interactive, enjoyable and fun. In fact, 77% of respondents recommended flipped classroom to future students.