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THOMASTON, Conn. (AP) — The 26 eighth-graders already were settled in their seats when teacher Mark Olsen walked into class.
"Guys, I'm open for business if you've got anything you want to show me," Olsen said.
Six students jumped to line up in front of Olsen's desk.
Others pulled out their Chromebooks, Google's laptop-tablet hybrid which the district purchased for every student last year. Some plugged in a pair of earphones while others chatted in a low murmur. Soon everyone was working through basic algebra problems.
It was a typical day in Olsen's "flipped classroom."
The flipped teaching model does just that — flip the order in which students pursue their studies. Rather than hear lessons in class and do homework after school, students watch a lecture featuring new content at home, then work through exercises and projects during class.
Thomaston eighth-graders are taught at Thomaston High School.
Some students at Litchfield High School and Nonnewaug High School in Woodbury also are experiencing the flipped method.
There's no official tally, but a growing number of teachers no longer lecture in front of a classroom, trying to engage every student before some drift off. Olsen works with students one-on-one, helping them understand points they might have missed or struggle with, based on videos they watched the night before.
"It's very different, but it works out well because you can ask questions instead of waiting," said Hannah Theriault, 13. "If you don't have any questions, you can get ahead by doing the next section. ... If other people are behind you, you don't have to wait for them to catch up."
The flipped classroom has been gaining popularity as advancements in technology make it easier, said Larry Schaefer, senior staff associate for leadership development at the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents.
Five years ago, a desktop or laptop cost close to $2,000, Schaefer said. That put them well out of the range of most school district budgets, as well as beyond the ability of many families to purchase them. Now, schools can buy an iPad or Chromebook for about $500.
"It's still expensive, but it's affordable," Schaefer said.
A Harvard physics professor, Eric Mazur, developed the flipped model in the 1990s. As more information goes digital, and as tablet costs drop, schools are shifting resources from textbooks to technology, and changing how students are taught.
Meriden schools flipped classrooms for freshmen and sophomores, Schaefer said, but teachers in other districts report making the change on their own initiative.
Olsen said he flipped his classroom last year after attending a workshop and hasn't looked back.
Even though students work individually on an online program, he can track their progress from his desk, swooping in to help if he notices a student getting stuck. Students work at their own pace, but they have to achieve a certain proficiency in each topic by established deadlines.
"The learning is kind of on them, and you help," he said.
In a traditional classroom, Olsen said he had scant time to help children who were struggling.
In the lower level classes, where he has a second teacher to help, the teachers can spend 9 minutes each with half the students in the class during a period. He said students seem to get concepts faster when he can work with them individually.
"You really make a connection with them," Olsen said. "With me, if you zone out, you miss whatever I'm talking about. With the video, you can rewatch it as often as necessary."
At Litchfield High School, math teacher Patti O'Neill makes 10- to 40-minute video lectures using her Smart Board. For homework, students watch the video, take notes and write down questions. During class, they work on problem sets. If necessary, O'Neill said she holds small group sessions with students who are struggling with certain problems. Otherwise, she circulates around the room.
"If someone walked in, it would look very disorganized, but it's kind of like that controlled chaos," O'Neill said.
She has been flipping her classroom for honors trigonometry and pre-calculus, as well as algebra 2, for three years.
When she sent students home with a problem set in her traditional classroom, O'Neill said many would get stuck and not complete the work. In the flipped classroom, students can work with their friends.
"They didn't shut down as quickly," O'Neill said. "Just by doing that, I see much more of a completion rate and much more of a want to investigate things rather than giving up."
She said students like being able to revisit the videos to study for tests.
One student who graduated last year emailed O'Neill to ask for a link to the videos to help with her college math class.
O'Neill said the flipped model wouldn't work without modern technology. Like Thomaston, all Litchfield middle and high school students have school-issued devices.
At Nonnewaug High School, Kathleen Yocis is in her second year of teaching chemistry using the flipped method. She said two other chemistry teachers, a math teacher and an AP biology teacher also are using the method at her school.
Before flipping her class, Yocis said her students were wasting a lot of class time copying down notes. Now, "I have a lot more time to do hands-on problem solving," she said.
Students have different speeds and methods of learning, Yocis said. Some are visual learners, while others can just read and memorize.
"This gives me a lot more time to try all of those things for every one of them," Yocis said.
She said she has noticed a positive change in her students' problem-solving skills and a deeper understanding of the material.
Yocis said she initially purchased podcasts from another chemistry teacher. This year, she and the other chemistry teachers are making their own to replace lessons they didn't like.
"Hopefully, after a few years, we'll have them all replaced with us," she said. "They relate to you better than some stranger that's in the video."
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