Flipped Classroom in Biology 203

Biology 203 is an introductory course in data analysis, designed specifically for students entering natural and life sciences. The concepts and skills taught in this class will form the foundation of students’ understanding of quantitative data analysis and comprises a key component of their undergraduate science education. The course has been identified as a bottleneck course, both in terms of availability and student success. Therefore, in redesigning the course a key goal was to improve student retention and performance. The format chosen was a flipped approach, in which students view online lectures and complete online quizzes outside of the classroom, then attend regular class sessions where they complete exercises designed to reinforce learning and develop proficiency in basic statistical analysis. Outcomes from the first semester when the new course was implemented for two sections indicated that redesign was successful in both target areas. In those sections that were flipped (n = 48 students), all enrolled students completed the course, the failure rate fell from 18% to 4% and the overall performance improved by 6 percentage points.