Flipped Learning: Gateway to Student Engagement

Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, Flipped Learning: Gateway to Student Engagement, International Society for Technology in Education: Eugene, Oregon and Washington, DC, 2014; 169 pp.: ISBN 978-1-56484-344-9There are two main reasons for the book Flipped Learning: Gateway to Student Engagement being an interesting read. The first is that the book discusses a relatively new concept, dating back to only 2006. The second is that it is written by the pioneers of the concept of flipped learning. Both reasons add to high expectations for this book.The authors of the book, Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, both have teaching experience and were in fact colleagues when they started developing the idea of flipped learning. They were both teaching high school chemistry and shared a common vision: 'to put our students first so they could develop both cognitively and affectively' (p. ix). From their initial collaboration and the idea of flipping, stemmed a numerous online community of educators interested in flipping their teaching, the Flipped Learning Network (flippedclassroom.org) with a membership of over 20,000 in 2014.The book Flipped Learning: Gateway to Student Engagement is divided into two halves. In the first four chapters, the authors explain their background and aim to persuade the reader about the efficiency of the presented concept. Bergmann and Sams substantiate their thesis of flipped learning being a unique experience for each teacher and their class by including stories from a wide range of subject matter teachers, such as math, chemistry, physical education, biology, history, English and science (Chapters 5 to 11). There is also a story by a primary school fifth-grade teacher who flips her classes (Chapter 12) and a story of flipping professional development courses for teachers (Chapter 13). The final chapter summarises the teachers' stories, reviews the benefits of flipping, and even suggests that school administrators should flip their staff meetings to make better use of face-to-face time and thus empower teachers.The book cover presents the book as a 'revolutionary education philosophy' taken to the next level. This refers to Bergmann and Sams' previous book, Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day (2012), in which the authors focused mainly on producing high-quality videos for students, while in Flipped Learning, the classroom is truly student-centred and the teacher individualises instruction in order to engage each student. The book offers a general introductory look into the concept of flipped learning and indicates possible further exploration. The authors have expanded these primary notions by writing four more books dedicated to different subjects of flipping - a book series that supports flipped learning in five topic areas: science, math, English, social studies, and the elementary classroom.Bergmann and Sams define flipped learning as an instructional model in which direct instruction is delivered individually through videos. The amount of whole-class instruction is minimised and time and space are given to other student grouping forms and activities, such as problem-based learning, discussion, inquiry, project work, etc. Throughout the book, the 'One Question' that the authors pose in the Introduction, is a common thread and this question is "What is the best use of face-to-face time with students? " (p. 3). Bergmann and Sams insist that this is the question that is the core of flipped learning and one that each teacher should ask constantly. Moreover, they believe each teacher should provide a unique and individual answer to it, according to the needs of their own students.The concept of flipped learning appeared in 2006 and has passed several developmental stages since then, which also affected the terminological aspect of the concept. Originally, the concept of the flipped classroom, as it was then called, was based on the use of video as a medium of content transfer, while the teacher was at the centre of instruction. …