PROCEEDINGS OF THE 19TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2016
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Divergent definitions of inquiry-based learning in undergraduate mathematics
Page: 660
Inquiry-based learning is becoming more important and widely practiced in undergraduate mathematics education. As a result, research about inquiry-based learning is similarly becoming more common, including questions of the efficacy of such methods. Yet, thus far, there has been little effort on the part of practitioners or researchers to come to a description of the range(s) of practice that can or should be understood as inquiry-based learning. As a result, studies, comparisons and critiques can be dismissed as not using the appropriate definition, without adjudicating the quality of the evidence or implications for research and teaching. Through a large-scale literature review and surveying of experts in the community, this study begins the conversation about possible areas of agreement that would allow for a constituent definition of inquiry-based learning and allow for differentiation with non-inquiry pedagogical practices.