Several elementary schools in Stillwater, Minnesota, are taking a novel approach to math lessons, flipping their lesson plans with internet video technology, according to the Stillwater Gazette.
Sixth graders in Lily Lake, Lake Elmo, Oak Park, Withrow and Stonebridge elementary will watch online videos, seven to 12 minutes long, at home. The videos will introduce a subject, and the students will then take that concept into the classroom where a teacher will assist them.
Students with classroom access to technology, like internet video, a tablet computer or an HDMI projector, have a significant advantage over students who are taught exclusively with traditional teaching methods. Advanced media offers increasingly tech-savvy students information in a way with which they're comfortable, aiding both comprehension and retention.
Teachers say that the idea allows students to learn in their own way and at their own pace. Videos can be paused and rewinded, and all six participating teachers make their videos availabile to every student, so if one instructor's explanation of a particular process is difficult for a student to grasp, another teacher's methods may be helpful.
"In the math community everyone wants to talk to us about this project," Amy Jones, an elementary curriculum specialist, told the source. "It's innovative, creative and it flips what the traditional class looks like."
