Learn before Lecture: A Strategy That Improves Learning Outcomes in a Large Introductory Biology Class

By Marin L. Moravec, Adrienne E. Williams, Nancy M. Aguilar-Roca, Diane K. O'Dowd. CBE - Life Sciences Education, 2010

414 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Actively engaging students in lecture has been shown to increase learning gains. To create time for active learning without displacing content we used two strategies for introducing material before class in a large introductory biology course. Four to five slides from 2007/8 were removed from each of three lectures in 2009 and the information introduced in preclass worksheets or narrated PowerPoint videos. In class, time created by shifting lecture material to learn before lecture (LBL) assignments was used to engage students in application of their new knowledge. Learning was evaluated by comparing student performance in 2009 versus 2007/8 on LBL-related question pairs, matched by level and format. The percentage of students who correctly answered five of six LBL-related exam questions was significantly higher (p < 0.001) in 2009 versus 2007/8. The mean increase in performance was 21% across the six LBL-related questions compared with <3% on all non-LBL exam questions. The worksheet and video LBL formats were equally effective based on a cross-over experimental design. These results demonstrate that LBLs combined with interactive exercises can be implemented incrementally and result in significant increases in learning gains in large introductory biology classes.

Subfields: Education

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/dab9c3cea8eb0a70bd5c6205cd156a75afa7e0c7

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Citations in the corpus

Inverting the Linear Algebra Classroom (2014, methodology): “The inverted classroom has been used in biology [9], computer science [4, 12, 13], engineering [10, 15], physics [1], and statistics [11] as well as in various mathematical subjects [8].”
Exploring Flipped Classroom Instruction in Calculus III (2017, result): “Some other studies have indicated students’ feelings that the flipped class helped them achieve their academic goals more (Critz & Knight, 2013; Day & Foley, 2006; Moravec et al., 2010; Stelzer et al., 2010), improved their performance and enjoyment of working with others (Lage et al.”
Flipping the classroom and instructional technology integration in a college-level information systems spreadsheet course (2013, background): “A simple description of flipping the classroom is to replace after-lecture homework with the expectation that students study course material prior to class (Alvarez 2011; Moravec et al. 2010).”
A Review of Nontraditional Teaching Methods: Flipped Classroom, Gamification, Case Study, Self-Learning, and Social Media (2019, background): “In 2010, the authors of [37] likewise adopted the flipped classroom and observed a 21% improvement in learners’ performance.”
Discipline-Based Education Research: Understanding and Improving Learning in Undergraduate Science and Engineering. (2012, background): “In a large introductory biology course for majors, students who participated in Learn Before Lecture (a simpler approach than Just-inTime Teaching) performed significantly better than students in traditional courses on Learn Before Lecture-related exam questions, but not on other questions (Moravec ”
THE IMPACT OF A FLIPPED CLASSROOM MODEL OF LEARNING ON A LARGE UNDERGRADUATE STATISTICS CLASS (2018, result): “Most comparative studies came from observational studies comparing the flipped approach course with the ones taught by traditional methods in previous semesters (Crouch & Mazur, 2001; Mason, Shuman, & Cook, 2013; Moravec et al., 2010; Wilson, 2013; Winquist & Carlson, 2014).”
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