Abstract

Students at two rural, northeastern high schools in the United States have demonstrated decreasing academic performance in social studies courses for the past five years. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine a sample of nine secondary social studies teachers to determine how they incorporate flipped-learning principles into their teaching practice as a means of differentiating instruction. Two research questions focused on how secondary social studies teachers describe the ways they incorporate flipped-learning principles into their teaching practice as a means of differentiating instruction and how student engagement differs in classrooms that use a flipped-learning model as opposed to a traditional learning model. Open-ended interviews were conducted with nine secondary social studies teachers at the local schools who volunteered to participate, and observations of the teacher interviewees’ classroom lessons provided the data for the bounded case. The data were analyzed in an explanation-building technique that flowed from the research questions. The findings indicate that the participants who had received extensive training on how to differentiate instruction using educational technology effectively incorporated flipped-learning principles in their classrooms. The findings also indicate that using a flipped-learning model led to higher levels of student engagement than using a traditional model of learning. The results of this study may impact social change in the local schools by providing effective flipped-learning techniques to invigorate student-centered learning and engagement.