Rock and mineral labs are fundamental in traditional introductory geology courses. Successful implementation of these lab activities provides students opportunities to apply content knowledge. Inquiry-based instruction may be one way to increase student success. Prior examination of published STEM labs indicates that geology labs, particularly…

This article describes the author's experience designing and implementing an inquiry-based learning (IBL) pedagogical approach to an upper-division undergraduate cryptology course. The author shares the course goals and how the IBL style supports their achievement. The article concludes with sample activities -- in-class exercises that touch on…

Courses: This paper presents a course design that aims to stimulate student ownership of learning. It was developed for a semester-long undergraduate course in political communication, but it is equally suitable for courses at graduate level and on other topics. The course design will unfold its potential best in classes with up to 30 students.…

Recently, our course team transformed a large-enrollment introductory genetics course from being predominantly lecture based to active learning based. During class sessions, students engaged in problem solving, which occurs when a student attempts to solve a problem without knowing the path to complete it. We designed class activities…

Inquiry-based course experiences provide a scalable and equitable way to engage students in research. In this study, we describe how we introduced inquiry-based experiences to ten lower-division and upper-division courses across the biology curriculum at a regionally comprehensive public university serving the diverse population in a major…

This article describes an exercise for a physical laboratory experiment designed to enable physical geography students to practice transferable quantitative skills through inquiry-based learning. The exercise is a deliberately simplified physical model of storm-driven coastal overwash typical of low-lying coastal barrier systems. The experiment…

Laboratory learning in the life sciences is historically centered around following recipe-like instructions to complete activities with defined outcomes. The American Association for the Advancement of Science's "Vision and Change" report has called for a change in science teaching. The report emphasizes the importance of providing…

Although innovation is widely recognised as a cornerstone of contemporary engineering, empirical studies consistently show that undergraduate electrical-engineering students lag behind industry expectations in rapidly translating interdisciplinary concepts into functional prototypes. These findings underscore the need to comprehensively reform…

Transdisciplinary problem-solving using digital technologies can further the internationalisation agenda within higher education through an inquiry-based collaborative online international exchange that is transformative and contributes real-world knowledge. Our study focused on a 12-week fully online programme bringing together undergraduates and…

Inquiry-based learning as an instructional approach has been popular amongst STEM (i.e. science, technology, engineering, mathematics) disciplines, but the practice specifically in engineering education deserves further exploration. Employing a case-study approach, the present study was aimed to explore POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry…

Numerous studies emphasise the contribution of inquiry-based learning approaches to positive learning outcomes for students; however, in this study, we explore how a scientific methods assignment may qualify as a profession-oriented, inquiry-based learning approach in teacher education. The paper presents analysis of student teachers' reports on a…

This study is a follow-up to the analysis of an inquiry-based learning activity applied to students in a public university in Brazil. We advocate that an effective education in immunology must incorporate elements that are essential to research in the area, such as generating and analysing data. These elements would empower students to apply…

Curriculum and professional standards mandate that digital technologies are used in schooling, and consequently, universities are required to prepare pre-service teachers for this in initial teacher education degrees. In response, one Australian university developed an inquiry-based collaborative approach, called creative inquiry. Feedback from…

Background: Both learning and problem solving are major goals of complex problem solving in engineering education. The order of knowledge construction and problem solving in learning through problem solving, however, has not been explained in current literature. Objectives: To understand their relationships, this study compared the effects of…

Climate change is a major concern to undergraduate students. Understanding climate change relies on an understanding of polar regions. However, courses on polar regions are rare at undergraduate institutions. Polar ENgagement through GUided INquiry (PENGUIN) modules were designed to give students experience with polar research in a variety of…