During class, the students are randomly split into teams of 3 or 4 and they are asked to sit next to their teammates. The class is then given a worksheet which normally includes 3 or 4 problems related the topics that the students watched in the videos and they are asked to work through it in teams.

This scenario creates concentric levels of learning where the individual is the center of the first circle, the group represents the second level, and third level is the other groups and the class as a whole. When students have a question about the worksheet, they are asked to go through these circles from the innermost to the outermost. Specifically, if a student within a group has a question then this question must be discussed within the group first. It is my observation that Group discussions resolve 75%-80% of the emerging questions. If the group cannot agree on an answer, then they flag down the instructor and pose the question as a group. When the question is resolved this way, it is often shared with the rest of the class in one of two ways: either the instructor stops the other groups to discuss and share the question, or the group that came up with the question becomes in charge of answering the same question if another group poses the same question. This way, knowledge propagates inwards and outwards in the concentric learning model.

Instructors and students are often in a race against time to successfully cover and study class material. In the traditional class model, the instructor has more control over the pace of the class. In contrast, instructors relinquish some of this control when they switch to the flipped classroom model. This means that instructors and students must be careful when managing time in the flipped classroom model.

In the flipped classes that Dr. Khasawneh teaches, several strategies are followed in order to optimize the usage of the available time:

• Focus on the parts of the worksheet that emphasize the new concepts. Consistent with this point, preference is given to worksheet problems that use symbolic variables as opposed to numeric values. This means that:
  • The groups must first discuss and come up with a solution strategy. This is a birds‐eye view of the steps necessary to successfully solve the problem. The solution can be fleshed out only after this step is complete.
  • Equation generation phase of the solution process is separated and is prioritized over the equation solution phase.
  • The groups are not expected to solve the worksheet problems from start to end during class time. However, the students are still expected to write the full solution outside of class time.
  • Allocated time for each problem in the worksheet is only sufficient for just arriving at the phase of pure computations in the solution. For example, for an in-class worksheet on static equilibrium, it is sufficient to come up with the system of equations that can be solved for the desired unknowns. Performing the actual computations is considered secondary during class time and is abandoned in favor of exposing the students to more problems that deal with a richer variety of concepts.
• The instructor keeps track of the time elapsed for each problem in the worksheet and constantly remind the students of how much time is left for completing the problem in hand. For example, the strategy phase can be allocated 3–10 minutes depending on the problem. Generating the actual equations can be allocated another 5–15 minutes. After the time allocated for one problem has elapsed all groups are asked to move on to the next problem. With repeated application of this approach, it was observed that students became better at seeing the big picture, they solved the problems faster, and their solutions became better-organized.
• Enough time is spared at the end, about 10–15, minutes to go around the class and ask each group to discuss their approach for one of the worksheet problems. At this point all the groups listen and participate in the discussion by providing alternative approaches or asking questions. During this reflection phase, the presenting group is asked to discuss something they found challenging and something they found surprising or interesting.
• Writing up the full solution of the worksheet problems is often assigned as part of the homework.