Enhancing student learning with flipped teaching and retrieval practice integration

Area of Science:

• Physiology education
• Instructional design
• Educational psychology

Background:

• Traditional lecture-style teaching (TT) is a common instructional method.
• Flipped teaching (FT) shifts lectures out of the classroom, promoting active learning.
• Retrieval practice is a known technique to enhance memory recall.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the effectiveness of traditional teaching (TT), flipped teaching (FT), and FT combined with retrieval practice (FTR) in a graduate physiology course.
• To analyze the impact of these instructional methods on student performance across different academic levels and genders.

Main Methods:

• A comparative study was conducted over four semesters using TT, FT, and FTR instructional methods.
• Student performance was assessed through quantitative measures.
• Student preferences were collected via surveys.

Main Results:

• Both FT and FTR methods resulted in significantly higher student performance (92.78% and 92.98%, respectively) compared to TT (89.28%).
• Higher academic achievers and lower academic achievers in the FT and FTR groups scored better than their counterparts in the TT group.
• Student performance was not significantly different between male and female students across all teaching methods; however, student surveys indicated a preference for TT despite better performance with FT and FTR.

Conclusions:

• Flipped teaching (FT) and FT with retrieval practice (FTR) are more effective instructional methods for physiology education than traditional lectures.
• These active learning strategies enhance student outcomes regardless of academic background or gender.
• Educational institutions should consider implementing FT and FTR to improve learning efficacy, even if they are not initially preferred by students.