Innovative education technique at Perstorp's own high school
Perstorp’s own high school, Perstorp Gymnasium, is flipping the teaching situation upside down – focusing on learning at home, and practicing in school.
At Perstorp Group’s own industry high school in Perstorp, south of Sweden, the teachers are using a different kind of teaching technique.
“We started to implement the ‘flipped classroom’ about two years ago, and today all of our teachers try to work with the technique one way or another”, says Chancellor Åsa Persson.
The flipped classroom
In a flipped classroom at Perstorp Gymnasium the students watch the lesson at home during the evening, instead of doing regular homework. Then during class in school, the students get the opportunity to practice together with the teacher.
“It’s important to spend time on what is needed the most, which is training and practicing with the teacher available, something that is impossible to do on your own at home”, Åsa Persson says.
One of the teachers at Perstorp Gymnasium is Johan Cheander, teaching math and physics:
“During the traditional set up, the knowledge just goes from my paper over to the students’ papers, and I don't think there’s much learning involved in that process. You need to practice it a lot as well”, he says.
Johan displays his lessons on a blog. He creates a mind map for each lesson that he connects to a video on YouTube. He records and publishes his own videos, but he also uses videos from other teachers. The students can then sit in peace and quiet at home to watch and learn in their own pace.
“Since the material stays online, the students can go back and look again if they get uncertain”, Johan Cheander adds.
Engaging the students
The teaching method gets a lot of attention:
“There is a great interest to get students more involved and engaged in the school. That means that we have to find their way of working - and right now there is a large emphasis on computers. The ‘flipped classroom’ makes it possible for us to meet them halfway”, Åsa Persson says.
“It’s important for us to be at the forefront when it comes to education, but at the same time ‘the flipped classroom’ wouldn’t be as successful if we didn’t have such ambitious and eager students”, she concludes.