What is Inquiry Based Learning?

How can we as educators make learning fun and engaging for our students?

What if instead of just providing information to our students, we gave them the opportunity to discover learning on their own?

Well, Inquiry Based Learning is a teaching method in which students are given full potential to explore content on their own. According to Warner and Myers, Inquiry Based Learning "combines the curiosity of students and the scientific method to enhance the development of critical thinking skills while learning science".

During Inquiry Based Learning students are faced with a problem to explore. As students are exploring they may pose questions to the problems, make observations, and apply knowledge before coming to a conclusion.

According to the National Academy of Sciences (1995), the process that students go through when engaging in learning through inquiry include:

1. Question
2. Investigate
3. Use evidence to describe, explain, and predict
4. Connect evidence to knowledge, and
5. Share findings with others.

As agricultural educators, I believe we have a great opportunity to implement Inquiry Based Learning in our classrooms. Because of our laboratory component of our curriculum, I feel there are numerous opportunities for students to engage in hands on activities that allow them to strengthen their critical thinking skills.

For example while in the greenhouse my students and I noticed that one of our potted sunflowers was radiating beautifully. Two potted plants to the right we found a sunflower that was half the size as the first sunflower and the head of the sunflower was drooping downward.

I asked my students why these two flowers were so different? What was causing the dramatic difference in appearance?

My students can now engage in Inquiry Based Learning following the five steps listed above. They may pose questions as to are both flowers receiving the same amount of sunlight? Could the second sunflower be lacking a nutrient? Is the temperature to hot or cold for the sunflowers?

Then my students would investigate each of their questions. This investigation would require tests and other observations to our variables or sunflowers in this experiment. After their investigation and testing the students can use their investigations to describe, explain and predict or hypothesize what could be happening to our sunflower. This process allows for the implementation of the scientific method.

Once a conclusion is made students can connect their evidence to knowledge to create a resolution to their sunflower dilemma.


Inquiry Based Learning is a great method to get students engaged and in control of their own learning process. Students will enhance their critical thinking skills as well as develop a stronger connection to their learning.

Check out this video from Edutopia on Inquiry Based Learning in a science classroom! For all my Agriculture lovers out there, this could easily be implemented in to a Natural Resource or Environmental class as well!

The article referenced in this post can be found at:
Warner, A.J. & Myers, B.E. (2011) What inquiry-based instruction? Retrieved from https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WC/WC07500.pdf