Some Stillwater math teachers are testing an innovative approach that they hope will boost test scores and student engagement: Having students do more of their homework in school after listening to class lectures at home.
Fifth-grade math teachers at five elementary schools are taking advantage of the Internet to have their students watch their lectures at home through a district website. That's freeing classroom time for the teachers to guide students through their homework, "flipping" the traditional process.
Teachers hope that the approach, called a "flipped classroom," will allow students to get more personal time with teachers.
"We're flipping where problem-solving usually takes place," said Kristin Daniels, a technology integration specialist with the district and a former teacher. "At home, no one is there to help the kids. We're making it now so that the teacher can do their job better."
Six fifth-grade math teachers spent several days this summer recording themselves teaching five units worth of lessons from their "Math Expressions" curriculum. Several school districts and colleges around the country in recent years have begun putting lectures online to save money and resources.
Stillwater officials thought they could use the tool to change the way teachers engage students in the classroom.
"We already had the infrastructure in place to put on a program like this," Daniels said.
Each day, students are assigned lessons to watch at home on their computer. The lessons usually last from five to 13 minutes.
