RUME 28
2026
Alexandria, Virginia
An Examination of the Implementation of Inquiry-Based Learning in a Developmental Mathematics Course
Page: 1407
Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) is a type of learning model, where students are given investigative tasks that promote the engagement of students in the creation of important mathematical concepts. However, IBL is more practitioner focused without a consistent definition, so how IBL gets implemented in the classroom may differ across instructors. The research questions are: (1) What are the differences in the implementation of IBL by instructors? (1a) What is the frequency of activities and questions students and instructors engage in? (1b) What are the differences of the levels of inquiry in the classroom? This project uses classroom observations of five sections of college algebra to see how IBL is being implemented. Classes differed in their IBL implementation in a variety of ways, such as the percentage of groupwork and lecturing, the frequency and type of questions, the mathematics being completed, and the ways the instructors elicited and utilized student contributions.