The use of self-assessment and flipped classroom in an undergraduate mathematics course for management students

Abstract

In recent years, we have observed a growing number of strategies that promote active learning. Active learning is an approach in which students actively participate in the learning process. Two examples of such strategies are student self-assessment in the classroom and the flipped classroom.

In this article, we present a study that was carried out with first-year undergraduate students who were enrolled in a Mathematics course as part of a degree program in Business Management.

Although there are several possible definitions for self-assessment in the literature, we have used the definition that describes it as a descriptive and evaluative act carried out by the student concerning his own work and academic abilities.

As a teacher, my purpose in applying self-assessment is to generate formative feedback that promotes learning and improvement in students' performance. This implies that the ideal moment to apply it is during the class lecture.

The self-assessment tool used in this study was the traffic light system, which uses colored cards. This system is a method of self-evaluation that displays how well a group of students has understood and can perform a task based on the colors of a traffic light. Green means “We understand and know how to do the complete task”; yellow means “We understand and know how to do just a part of the task”; and red means “We do not understand or don’t know how to do any part of the task”. With this system, the teacher can assist the groups with more difficulties first while moving around the classroom.

The second used strategy was the flipped classroom. The flipped classroom teaching model is a model defined as one in which the activities traditionally done by students outside the class (e.g., problem solving) are moved into the classroom environment, whereas what is traditionally done in the classroom environment (e.g., expository, information transmission teaching) is done outside and prior to class lectures. The second used strategy was the flipped classroom.

The typical plan for each lecture was as follows: at the beginning of the lecture, students answered an individual formative quiz about the concepts of a topic that had been indicated to study at home during the week before. In the second stage, the teacher clarified any misunderstood concepts based on the quiz results. During the final stage of the class, students gathered in groups of up to 4 and attempted to solve a task consisting of exercises proposed by the teacher for that group. It was during this stage that the traffic light system was used: the spokesperson of each group had the responsibility of keeping the card corresponding to the understanding level of the group on top of the pile.

At the end of the semester, the students were asked to answer a survey regarding their experience with the strategies used.

The results obtained showed that self-assessment helped the students to reflect and make critical judgments about their work and difficulties, keeping them aware of the necessary effort to succeed in the class. Regarding the flipped classroom, the results showed that although it was effective, it required a lot of individual work before class.