Effectiveness of Flipped Classroom versus Conventional Teaching Method in Third Professional BAMS Students: A Research Protocol

Introduction: The “Flipped Classroom (FC)” is an innovative pedagogical approach that enables students to engage with lecture materials outside of class, thereby facilitating more active learning during class sessions. This approach promotes collaboration, deeper engagement with content, skill practice, and meaningful feedback. Creating effective skill-building activities within the FC model is the primary focus of this professional development session. Need of the study: Research contrasting the effectiveness of the FC with conventional teaching techniques is, however, lacking, especially for Kayachikitsa students pursuing a Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS). Despite the growing interest in innovative teaching methods such as the FC, there is a notable lack of research directly comparing its effectiveness with conventional teaching approaches in Ayurvedic education. This gap is particularly evident for Kayachikitsa students pursuing the BAMS. To address this deficiency, the present study has been undertaken to evaluate and contrast the impact of FC pedagogy with traditional teaching techniques in this specific academic context. Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of FC versus conventional teaching methods in terms of learning outcomes for third-year professional BAMS students in Kayachikitsa. Materials and Methods: This randomised crossover controlled trial will be conducted at Mahatma Gandhi Ayurved College Hospital and Research Centre, Wardha, Maharashtra, India from April 2026 to September 2026 and focus on all third-year BAMS students of the 2021-22 batch. A total of 90 students will be equally divided into two groups, A and B. Group A will be taught Topic I, Grahani, using conventional teaching methods (control group). At the same time, Group B will learn the same topic through the FC method (intervention). Afterwards, a crossover will be done for Topic-II (Pakshaghat). Knowledge will be assessed using multiple-choice pre- and post-tests for both Topic-I and Topic-II. After completing both topics, feedback will be collected via questionnaires for students and teachers. The pre- and post-test results for both groups will be compared using a paired t-test. Intergroup comparisons of the mean change scores between the intervention and control groups will be performed using an unpaired t-test. A significance level is defined as p-value<0.05