Flipping the Classroom to Teach the Evaluation of Research Articles and the Development of Scientific Literacy

Scientific literacy is a key skill for college students. Flipped classroom techniques provide useful tools for students to learn material outside of the classroom to be applied during class time. In this study, students were assigned homework that entailed watching two video podcasts that explained the process for finding and reading peer-reviewed journal articles. Students then completed a survey corresponding to each video podcast asking about the effectiveness of the video podcast and their satisfaction with the perceived knowledge and skills they learned. In class, students worked in groups to practice the skills taught in the video. One hundred and six students completed both surveys. The results indicate that the students found the video podcasts very helpful in finding and reading the articles (89% Finding, 92% Reading). The students believed that watching the video podcasts would help them complete the in-class assignment (92%), that the information would be useful for other classes (90%), and that they preferred watching (and rewatching) the video podcasts on their own time instead of during class time (52%). The flipped classroom methodologies, specifically video podcasts, provide a formative tool for delivering visual instruction of how students can acquire skills in scientific literacy.