Influence of group inquiry-based learning experimentation on student interest, experience, and motivation in an introductory animal agriculture course

Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is an active learning strategy which poses questions to students and supplies them with materials and resources to solve it at their own learning pace. This creates a self-driven atmosphere which promotes collaboration, creativity, cognitive processing, and a curiosity to learn. Three levels of IBL were implemented in an introductory animal science laboratory course across four periods during the Fall of 2022. Students (n=176) were enrolled in one of five laboratory sessions and then randomly placed into one of six groups. In each session, students engaged in a 45-minute collaborative and authentic IBL case scenario which was created to mimic one of the three levels of IBL or a control. The control simulated a teacher-centered lecture. After each period, half of the students self-reported their situational interest and half reported their perception of active learning. Students in the control group reported less orientation to learn, readiness to learn, cognitive processing, and motivational orientation than in any level of IBL. Students reported different challenges, novelty, and attention demand in certain levels of IBL when compared to traditional lectures. In conclusion, IBL levels offer numerous benefits to students’ experiences such as increased creativity, motivation, interest, and autonomy.