Flipped learning in higher education chemistry: emerging trends and potential directions

Flipped learning has grown in popularity in recent years as a mechanism of incorporating an active learning environment in classrooms and lecture halls. There has been an increasing number of reports for flipped learning in chemistry at higher education institutions. The purpose of this review is to survey these reports with a view to examining the rationale for adopting the flipped learning approach, how educators have implemented the flipped learning approach into their own practice and how these implementations have been evaluated. The reports are analysed for emerging themes on the benefits and challenges of integrating this approach in chemistry education at university level, with a view to understanding how we can continue to develop the approaches taken for implementation of flipped learning methods in higher education chemistry. Analysis of the articles surveyed indicate that the approach is highly popular with students, with educators adopting it as a means of developing an active learning environment, to increase engagement, and to allow time for developing a deeper understanding of the discipline. Despite the approach being open-ended in terms of how it can be implemented, there is some uniformity in how it has been adopted. These approaches are discussed, along with lessons learned from evaluations, with some suggestions for future iterations so that the implementation relies on evidence-based methods.