Assessing Behavioral Engagement in Flipped and Non-Flipped Mathematics Classrooms: Teacher Abilities and Other Potential Factors

There is a growing evidence that flipped classrooms are associated withincreased levels of student engagement, as compared to engagement in“traditional” settings. Much of this research, however, occurs inpost-secondary classrooms and is based upon self-reported engagement data. Thisstudy seeks to extend existing flipped classroom research by assessingbehavioral engagement in flipped and non-flipped settings using observationalinstruments in three pre-college settings. Contrary to widely-reported results,this study found an increase in engagement in only one of the three observedsettings. Analyses of the classroom contexts and teachers’ actions in the threesettings suggests that student engagement is not solely a function ofinstructional strategy (flipped versus non-flipped), but is also affected bystudent characteristics and teachers’ skill and expectations.