An education research project funded by the Singapore Ministry of Education Tertiary Education Fund entitled Enhancing Students’ Intrinsic Motivation: An Evidence-based Approach was recently undertaken by the second author, who is also the Principal Investigator; and a group of lecturers including the first author. The broad research questions focused on how students experience their learning when teachers use an Autonomy-supportive Style of teaching and employ Evidence-Based Practices and Principles in their teaching approach. A significant aim is to identify specific evidence-based strategies to enhance students’ active participation (agentic engagement) in both pre-class and in-class activities. This paper shares the results of the project by the first author in using autonomy supporting style of teaching to engage students in flipped classroom learning. The study used a mixed methods approach which includes survey questionnaire and focus group discussion of students, and lesson observation of the lecturers, as well as reflection journals by the lecturers. The result of this study showed that both an autonomy-supportive style of teaching and cognitive scientific principles of learning employed by the first author had positively impacted student engagement and self-efficacy. The qualitative data was particularly revealing in terms of how students experience their teachers in terms of the range of instructional and teacher behaviours that are most impactful. Outcomes from the rest of the research team, which cut across a range of disciplines and in different contexts, show similar findings. As such, a compelling case can be made for utilizing the approach employed and the area is rich for further research to delineate more specific aspects of practices that can positively enhance the subjective experience of students’ learning in the context of intrinsic motivation.
