Associate Professor Peter Savolainen embraces team-based learning, flipped classroom method to stretch students’ abilities
New teaching methods are flipping traditional classroom learning on its head. Team-based learning (TBL) helping students learn from peers. Flipped learning methods lead students to review materials outside of the classroom. Class time is then used for questions, discussion and projects.
These methods can be seen weekly in classes taught by Peter Savolainen. Savolainen is an associate professor in the department of civil, construction and environmental engineering at Iowa State University. This month, Savolainen was featured in Iowa State University’s alumni magazine, Visions.
Take a look at an excerpt from that story …
Here’s an example of both the “flip” and TBL: In Peter Savolainen’s Civil Engineering 453 Highway Design class, students are arranged into teams in one of the newly renovated Marston Hall classrooms. The team approach, he says, eliminates the problem of providing one-on-one consultation to students in a large classroom.
“By arranging the students into teams, I am able to more effectively interact with the entire class over the duration of the semester. I am also able to provide more challenging problems, which are well-suited for teamwork,” [Savolainen] said …
Find the full story, “The big flip: New ways to learn,” published in the Winter 2017 edition of Visions Magazine.