Geometry Flipped Classroom

Background

I collaborated with another educator to design and develop this eLearning experience for fourth grade students at a local school district. The goal was to address recurring problem that geometry instruction within the math curriculum occurs in May, but the state standardized testing falls before this unit, and yet always includes numerous questions involving geometry. We wanted to develop something that would be student-led and asynchronous so it would be easier to incorporate into our existing curriculum requirements.

The Process

My team member and I worked through the full lifecycle of project development to complete this course. We researched the areas of need using historical data from the state standardized tests. We then identified that geometry at this level is vocabulary heavy and that aspect of the content could be completed asynchronously if we developed a user friendly system. 

We gathered our existing resources and found new resources online to develop a structure for each sub-content area - including teaching videos, songs, worksheets, and a workbook I created for notetaking. Then, we used our learning management system to organize the resources into chunks that could be released to students as they were ready. 

Within each sub-content area, students were introduced to the concept through a video or song, provided with a note sheet to copy for their dictionary, given practice opportunities in the form worksheets, and then provided them with knowledge checks embedded in the learning management system. At that point, the teacher could determine who needed reteaching in small groups while other students were able to access the enrichment activities that extended the learning. Each of these sub-content areas were developed in manageable chunks that could be worked through slowly so they didn’t take up additional learning time that needed to be spent on other topics. 

The full module has been shared with all the teachers in the grade and has been in use for a few years and reaches between 300-400 learners each year. As a result of this course, we have seen in increase in student success on geometry-focused questions on the state standardized test as well as increased use of academic vocabulary when discussing geometric concepts.

CLICK THROUGH THE SLIDESHOW TO SEE A SAMPLE OF THE COURSE.

STUDENT SAMPLE OF WORKBOOK WITH DICTIONARY ENTRIES.