This year, a new method of teaching was implemented by science teachers Mary Wuerth and April Tucker. Called “flipped” or “flip” teaching, it aims to educate students with a curriculum of video lectures to be watched at home and discussions with comprehension checks taking place in class.

Tucker makes all of her own video lectures for her class, which are assigned as homework, and the following class period students are tested with a questionnaire. Students in her science classes are able to use iPads in order to watch videos and use apps to do lab activities.

“I enjoy flipped teaching because its easier, and it’s great for tests because if there is anything that I don’t understand before a unit test I can just go back and re-study it,” said sophomore James Trombadore, an Integrated Science 3/4 student.

Although it is still in its infancy, flipped teaching has already attracted interest from other teachers. “Just this year I have gotten many teachers from different departments to come talk to me about using flipped teaching,” said Tucker. Math and English departments have started to use flipped teaching in some classes, following Tucker’s and Wuerth’s lead.

But the new teaching approach has faced some criticism. Junior Elliot Dorenbaum, an AP Biology student, notes that, “the main principal of the method is to free up time for more labs and activities in class,” but Dorenbaum explained that the available time was not always used efficiently.

Flipped teaching has become a part of many students’ learning experiences; it remains to be seen how successful the new educational method will be and how far it will spread