Recent advances in technology and ideology have unlocked entirely new directions for
education research. Mounting pressure from increasing tuition costs and free, online course
offerings are opening discussion and catalyzing change in the physical classroom. The flipped
classroom is at the center of this discussion. The flipped classroom is a new pedagogical
method, which employs asynchronous video lectures, practice problems as homework,
and active, group-based problem-solving activities in the classroom. It represents a unique
combination of learning theories once thought to be incompatible—active, problem-based
learning activities founded upon constructivist schema and instructional lectures derived
from direct instruction methods founded upon behaviorist principles. The primary reason
for examining this teaching method is that it holds the promise of delivering the best
from both worlds. A controlled study of a sophomore-level numerical methods course was
conducted using video lectures and model-eliciting activities (MEAs) in one section (treatment)
and traditional group lecture-based teaching in the other (comparison). This study
compared knowledge-based outcomes on two dimensions: conceptual understanding and
conventional problem-solving ability