History

History of the Flipped Classroom

         In 2004, Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann began their careers together as chemistry teachers and toppled the educational system on its head by developing a method of recording their lectures for chronically absent students.  This recording of PowerPoints and lectures eventually led to the development of a completely flipped classroom, where students watch lectures at home and come to class ready to challenge themselves with collaborative activities (Bergmann, J. and Sams, A., 2012).  

 

The Flipped Classroom is Born

Even though Bergmann and Sams are credited with flipping the first modern classroom, there have been many educators and philosophers that have followed a similar mindset for many years.  Bergman and Sams claim they did not invent the flipped classroom, but rather describe it as a mindset and that all teachers have their own way of implementing the ideas of a flipped classroom (Schell, n.d.).  Although coming to class prepared is not a new idea, having videos available for students to watch at home has become much easier because of the increased amount of technology available to children.