The flipped classroom was utilized in a two-semester, high-content science course that enrolled between 50 and 80 students at a small liberal arts college. With the flipped model, students watched ~20-min lectures 2 days/wk outside of class. These videos were recorded via screen capture and included a detailed note outline, PowerPoint slides, and review questions. The traditional format included the same materials, except that lectures were delivered in class each week and spanned the entire period. During the flipped course, the instructor reviewed common misconceptions and asked questions requiring higher-order thinking, and five graded case studies were performed each semester. To determine whether assessments included additional higher-order thinking skills in the flipped vs. traditional model, questions across course formats were compared via Blooms Taxonomy. Application-level questions that required prediction of an outcome in a new scenario comprised 38 ± 3 vs. 12 ± 1% of summative assessment questions (<0.01): flipped vs. traditional. Final letter grades in both formats of the course were compared with major GPA. Students in the flipped model performed better than their GPA predicted, as 85.5% earned a higher grade (vs. 42.2% in the traditional classroom) compared with their major GPA. These data demonstrate that assessments transitioned to more application-level compared with factual knowledge-based questions with this particular flipped model, and students performed better in their final letter grade compared with the traditional lecture format. Although the benefits to a flipped classroom are highlighted, student evaluations did suffer. More detailed studies comparing the traditional and flipped formats are warranted.

the options available for educators to approach teaching and learning have changed with recent advances in technology ( 11 , 12 ). One noted method is the use of the flipped classroom that provides students with basic factual material through videos or other deliverables, whereas classroom time is devoted to performing activities that help to apply the material (flippedlearning.org). This is in contrast to a typical traditional classroom in which time outside of class is spent on activities that include application of material. By flipping the classroom the instructor is directly available to facilitate application of material, when the student would typically be struggling to master such fundamentals. The factual content that typically does not require intense dialogue to understand and conceptualize is placed on the student to master outside of class.

Although the prevalence of the flipped classroom has risen over the last 5 yr, our understanding of its role with regard to retention and student learning assessment is still being discovered ( 1 , 14 ). The use of technology in the classroom should be approached with specific goals in mind, not merely because the technology is available. To this end, the following research question was addressed: Does the flipped classroom allow for more activities and assessments devoted to critical thinking? After teaching courses with both traditional and flipped modalities, it was certain that basic factual knowledge was mastered with each teaching mechanism, but the flipped classroom appeared to offer more time for application of material and, to this end, critical thinking to answer such applications. A second research question was investigated to determine whether technological supports, including student response systems and analytics related to flipped video viewing, would correlate to exam scores. Taken together, information regarding these questions will inform the usefulness of the flipped classroom with regard to critical thinking, technological supports, and student learning assessment.