Flipped Classroom for Developing Higher Order Thinking Skills

Abstract

An objective of engineering education is to develop higher order thinking skills in students. This helps to improvise, innovate design and develop product and services useful to the humanity.

The traditional classroom teaching has little scope in developing these skills as major class time is spent in explaining topics which the student is listening for the first time. As there is hardly any change in the fundamentals of a subject, the teacher has to more or less repeat the same material to new students year after year.

With the advent of digital learning it is now possible for the teacher to create content in digital format and make it available to students before they come to the class. With the help of software the teacher observes the progress of students and knows plans accordingly to discuss the same in class.

In the classroom teacher conducts group discussions, role plays, assignments, innovative challenges in order to develop higher order thinking skills. This form of learning is termed as Flipped Classroom.