Approved and verified accurate by the Dean of the College of Education on June 10, 2025.
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Inquiry-based learning is a concept that first emerged in the 1960s,1 to describe how students attain knowledge by asking questions and seeking to arrive at the answer. It’s a student-centered approach that encourages the student to become an active participant in the learning process. Students must ask questions, generate information and data, apply knowledge in new ways, synthesize their findings and arrive at well-supported conclusions. Educators who take an inquiry-based approach nurture inquisitive habits in students that will aid them in their lifelong search for knowledge.
Science teachers may be more familiar with this kind of learning, as inquiry is a key component of the scientific method. Educators in other disciplines, however, may struggle to see how it applies to what they teach and how they can use inquiry-based learning in their classrooms. Exploring inquiry-based learning examples may help guide educators in discovering practical applications.
Although inquiry-based learning can have challenges, such as a lack of resources, it also has many benefits. Students can use several different approaches to experience inquiry-based learning.
After earning your education degree, it’s important to understand what strategies you can use to engage and motivate students. Use this guide to take a deeper dive into the answer to what is inquiry-based learning?
Inquiry-based teaching and learning not only support classroom learning objectives but can also help build students' soft skills that can be applied to other areas of their lives. Here are six benefits of inquiry-based instruction:
Students are often naturally curious. When students engage in inquiry-based learning, they can ask the questions they are interested in and try different solutions. This may lead them to recognize that there is not always one right answer or a single correct path toward knowledge.
Through inquiry-based learning, students must think deeply about a topic. They then start to consider many ways of approaching a problem. They use creativity and critical thinking to come up with new approaches.
Sometimes, one way does not work, so they must try something new. This keeps them innovating and creating potential approaches to find the answers they seek.
An inquiry-based approach focuses on solving open-ended questions or problems. Students must use critical thinking and reasoning skills to come up with a conclusion and defend their results. This means they will need to look for new ways of thinking about their problem and come up with solutions that other people might not have tried before.
When students become immersed in learning, they can find connections between what they are trying to learn and information they already know. For example, a student making an inquiry into changes in the weather may need to use their math skills to calculate monthly temperature averages. In other words, inquiry-based learning can bridge subject areas.
Working in an inquiry-based learning classroom may help students develop a love of learning through independence. Rather than simply following along with a lesson plan, students create their own lesson based on their own inquiry, allowing them to become independent thinkers and problem-solvers. Greater independence in the classroom may prompt students to take ownership of the education experience.
When students engage in inquiry-based learning, the experience is naturally differentiated. Students can work alone or in small groups. The information they seek may come from a variety of sources, such as texts, videos, websites and discussions.
Students work at their own pace to gather information and apply it to their problem. They also determine the best way to share their results, whether it be through a demonstration, a written paper or a slideshow.
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Now that you’re familiar with the inquiry-based learning definition, you can take a closer look at the specific approaches or types of inquiries. As the teacher, you’ll need to guide your students toward a specific approach. Some types of inquiry include:2
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One of the many exciting things about inquiry-based learning is that it can be done in any grade level and in any subject area. In fact, inquiry-based learning projects can be a great way to include cross-grade collaboration and promote interaction between younger and older students.
Here are a few inquiry-based learning examples you may want to implement in your classroom:
Researching the impact of a community garden is a great way for students to experience inquiry-based learning. Younger students can learn about fruits, vegetables, flowers and plant life cycles. They can plant seeds and watch them grow.
Older students can research nutrition and learn how plants impact the environment. They may even start a schoolyard garden to make observations. High school students might be interested in learning about hunger, food accessibility and patterns of food distribution.
During their inquiry, students can learn about topics related to math, science, economics, health and nutrition and social studies. Learning about community gardens can also allow the class to be more involved in the local community outside of school.
Habitats are a common theme of study in elementary school that can be used as the basis for inquiry-based learning. Young elementary students might learn about plants and animals that live in certain habitats. Older elementary school students can learn about the impact of changes in the habitat on its inhabitants. Middle and high school students can look at how communities adapt to their habitats and how environments must change to meet the needs of a growing population.
Habitats as a theme for inquiry can be as broad as your students choose to make it. See what they want to learn about, what sparks their natural curiosity and let them ask questions and investigate the topics of their choice.
What if? inquiries can be particularly powerful at all grade levels and subjects. It expands on students’ curiosity about the world around them and lets them consider alternative outcomes.
For example, a What if? inquiry for young students might be to ask them, What if cars had never been invented? Students might be led to research the invention of the wheel, or they may create new ideas for alternative modes of transportation.
Older students might ask questions about historical events, such as What if JFK had not been assassinated? or What if the United States had never intervened in World War II? History teachers can help students begin to answer these questions by providing them with a good grasp of the historical landscape at the time these events happened. Then, the students can use their creativity and research to come up with plausible explanations and answers.
