Flipped classroom and cooperative learning: a practical experience

Abstract

One of the main challenges which education is facing nowadays is how to introduce and promote active and cooperative learning, in contrast to a passive and competitive one, which has traditionally ruled –and still does- our educational system. The characteristics of contemporary societies have led to a change in the role of teachers and students, being the former the guides on the side and the latter the ones who have the lead. The teacher is not the only source of knowledge. This Final Master Project, framed within the Educational Innovation modality, contemplates the introduction of the flipped classroom and cooperative learning for learning English as a Foreign Language in a post-compulsory secondary level. Its goals are to discover whether this new approach to learning leads to meaningful learning and to find out whether students acquire values and attitudes related to cooperation such as solidarity, responsibility and helping other people. In the analysis, it can be observed that the flipped classroom leads to meaningful learning, higher in comparison to traditional methodologies, which opens the door for its frequent use in our educational system. On the other hand, a high number of students acquire cooperative values and abilities, although some students do not, as they are used to working in an individual way. In this way, it can be concluded that, by following the flipped classroom and working in a cooperative way, students learn not only contents, but also values which facilitate their personal and social growth.