Flipped Classroom Enhances Physical Demands, Energy Cost, and Academic Performance on Nutrition Concepts in Secondary...

Virtual learning environments have been shown to be an effective tool to provide contents and materials to help students achieve knowledge. The main objective of our study was to analyze the effects of a flipped classroom methodology on physical demands, energy cost, and academic performance during a nutrition unit in physical education with secondary school students. Eighty-three students were divided into two groups: Flipped Classroom Group (FCG) (n = 42, Age: 14.4 ± 0.9 years) and Alternative Instruction Group (AIG) (n = 41, Age:14.3 ± 0.8years). Eight sessions of 55 minutes were carried out in both teaching models. To evaluate the effect of the methodology on students learning, the academic performance was evaluated, pre- and post-intervention with two types of exams: a multiple-choice exam and a problem-solving exam. In addition, the physical demands of each session were recorded using a global positioning system device. The FCG covered 37.7% more total distance during the sessions than the AIG (p < .001) and also recorded a greater energy cost than the AIG (153.39 ± 31.70 vs. 104.55 ± 17.76 kcal; p < .001). After the intervention, the results of the multiple-choice (FCG: 2.85 ± 1.19 vs. 7.13 ± 1.87 points; p < .001 and AIG: 3.00 ± 1.25 vs. 7.73 ± 2.06 points; p < .001) and problem-solving (FCG:4.07 ± 1.72 vs. 5.81 ± 1.95 points; p < .001 and AIG: 4.42 ± 1.69 vs. 5.33 ± 1.84 points; p = .014) exams increased in both groups (pre-intervention vs. post-intervention), and no differences were found between groups. The flipped classroom is shown to be an effective pedagogical model for learning about healthy eating and increasing physical demands and energy cost during physical education lessons.