Dear Colleagues:
Adult learners interested in STEM career pathways may be forced to take basic science courses multiple times in order to raise their grades and improve their chances of getting accepted into selective college health science programs. In today’s newsletter from Workforce Strategies Initiative (Aspen Institute), you can learn about Austin Community College’s “flipped classroom” strategy for biology courses, a strategy that has increased success for their adult students.
The college has developed Biology modules through a U.S. Department of Labor Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant. Once finalized, all the modules will be available in the SkillsCommons Repository. For now, they have provided public access to the first module, Elements and Atoms, Welcome!
- Promising Practice Brief: Flipping the Classroom (“how to’s” of their process and lessons learned)
- Interactive Module: Elements and Atoms, Welcome!
Students at the ASE level and those studying for their high school equivalency exam may enjoy test driving the module and doing the small group discussion. Flipping is a strategy that has been discussed several times in the LINCS Community. Have you tried flipping? What did you find? How did you decide what material to flip? What activities did you do during class time?
Cynthia Zafft
Postsecondary Completion Moderator