2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

At many higher education institutions, differential equations classes focus on solving equations through symbolic manipulation, with applications often presented as isolated topics scattered throughout the semester. Starting in 2021, to better integrate applications and promote critical thinking, differential equation professors at one institution shifted from a traditional lecture-based approach to an inquiry-oriented, worksheet-based format. In this new design, students learn through daily structured worksheets that typically begin with an application motivating the need to solve a new type of differential equation. These worksheets guide students to develop methods for solving these equations by building on prior knowledge.

There is currently a substantial body of research on the effectiveness of (Inquiry Based Learning) IBL in both undergraduate and graduate courses. However, studies specifically addressing the IBL approach in Ordinary Differential Equations (ODE) are scarce. One relevant study by Çiftçi (2015) found that perceptions of mathematics education quality positively influence test scores while also reducing mathematics anxiety. To date, the authors have identified only two studies focused on this topic. The first is by the designers of the IBL course at our institution, Spencer et al. (2024), who examined both student performance and the impact of inquiry oriented differential equations courses on students’ views about mathematics, relying on the Views about Mathematics Survey (VAMS), a standard instrument for collecting data on student views. The second one conducted by Hyland et al. (2020), employed a 2+1 structure, consisting of two lectures followed by a tutorial or recitation each week.

In contrast, our institution uses a fully worksheet/tutorial-based approach with no formal lectures. Additionally, while Hyland’s research questions focus on the changes made to their tutorial methods, our study centers on students’ perception about the IBL method, drawing on Laursen and Rasmussen’s four pillars of Inquiry-Based Mathematics Education (IBME) (2019).

1. To what extent do students perceive the benefits of the IBL approach?
2. To what extent has student collaboration in IBL helped in mastering the content?
3. To what extent do students perceive the instructor's role in IBL as beneficial?
4. To what extent do students view IBL as an equitable instructional practice?

Another difference is that Hyland et al. used semi-structured interviews for data collection, while we plan to employ a combination of surveys and a few interviews. We will also conduct interviews with current students enrolled in the course. To analyze the quantitative data from our surveys, we will utilize statistical tools, while qualitative data from the interviews will be examined using both inductive and deductive methods.

This research enriches to the existing literature by providing a study that examines the impact of Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) in Ordinary Differential Equations (ODE). We anticipate that the insights gained from this research will inform changes and improvements of ODE courses and other IBL relevant courses, ultimately enhancing support for our students.

We aim to present our findings at the ASEE 2025 conference.