• The effect of the flipped classroom on the learning of medical sciences students compared to the traditional teaching method; A systematic review
  • Zahra Asadi,1,* Fereshte Niazi,2 Fateme Keykhosravi,3 Faeze Niazi,4 Zahra khodadoostan,5 Mahsa Khodadoostan,6
    1. Student Research Committee, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
    2. Student Research Committee, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
    3. Student Research Committee, Islamic Azad University, Kerman Branch, Kerman, Iran
    4. Student Research Committee, Islamic Azad University, Kerman Branch, Kerman, Iran
    5. Student Research Committee, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
    6. Student Research Committee, Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran


  • Introduction: Using the traditional teaching method (teacher-centered) is a passive method.. One of the problems of teacher-centered teaching is the large amount of content that the teacher must present to the students during the classroom hours, but usually, due to the limited time in face-to-face classes, it is not possible to present a complete lesson content. Flipped classroom is one of the student-centered teaching methods that can have a significant impact on medical sciences students by providing the course content to the learners at an appropriate time interval before each face-to-face class session, gives them enough time to study the course content carefully and patiently before starting the class. And then during the face-to-face classroom, the teacher deepens their learning by doing supplementary educational activities, such as question and answer, group discussion, problem solving, etc. The aim of this review study is to investigate the effect of the flipped classroom compared to the traditional teaching method among medical sciences students.
  • Methods: This review study conducted through an advanced search of reputable scientific databases including Pubmed, Scopus, ERIC, and Google Scholar search engine from 2016 to September 2022 using keywords “Flipped Classroom”, “Inverted classroom”, “Medical Students”, “Medical education”. After the initial search, only the title and abstract of interventional and qualitative studies were examined for relevance to the study objectives and the unrelated articles were excluded. We included publications relevant to the education of medical sciences students such as medical students, residents, nursing students, etc. The articles related to the study were also evaluated through the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool (MMAT).
  • Results: Students can use modern methods, especially the flipped classroom, in teaching courses. The results of this review identified positive outcomes among medical sciences students after a flipped classroom experience in terms of knowledge, attitudes, and practices. It improves students’ problem solving ability. In comparison to traditional lecture-based method, flipped classroom led to greater students satisfaction. Students belived that the worksheet provided before the class makes a better understanding of the subject, and learning key foundational content before coming to class enhanced the learning of course material in class. Also, there was a significant difference between the scores of the students before and after the test and the final test scores of the students. The scores were improved significantly. Most of graduate and undergraduate medical sciences students agreed that the flipped classroom is more engaging and interesting than the traditional classroom. Those students who believed traditional lecture-based classes are better than flipped classroom, were of the opinion that they have to spend more time for learning than traditional classes. Some studies mentioned limitations like limited electronic content available.
  • Conclusion: Flipped classroom is one of the educational methods that makes students learn better. It also leads to greater student satisfaction and better student performance in comparison to traditional teaching methods. It should be noted that several factors including course factor can be determining factors for choosing this method. However, more studies are needed to make a certain conclusion
  • Keywords: Flipped Classroom, Inverted Classroom, Medical students, Medical Education