2025 Volume 49 Issue 1 Pages 91-108
This study estimates the effectiveness of flipped classrooms in an introductory economics course of a university, using a randomized controlled trial. Randomly assigned students of two sections with the same instructor experience traditional lectures and flipped classrooms alternately with different orders. The effects are measured using final learning indicators such as quizzes, final examinations, and satisfaction, and intermediate indicators such as assignment marks, attendance, and video viewing. The data structure is a panel of fourteen sessions for about 400 students and multiple regression and mediation analyses are applied. The results show that: 1) flipped classrooms increase students' engagement in learning and have an positive and significant effect on increasing quiz scores, but do not affect the final exam; 2) the effect of flipped classrooms comes from active participation in group learning and completion of video viewing; and 3) overall, satisfaction with the flipped classroom is lower than with the traditional format, but students who are more active in group learning are more satisfied with the flipped classroom.
