Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) in mathematics at University of Michigan has a long history, going all the way back to the teaching of R. L. Wilder, E. Moise and P. Halmos in the 1950s and 60s. Halmos famously summarized the idea of IBL in the phrase: “The best way to learn is to do; the worst way to teach is to talk.” Later, in the 1990s, Mort Brown, Pat Shure and later Karen Rhea established our reformed calculus which incorporates ideas from inquiry based learning. Mort Brown also experimented with the IBL format in more advanced classes.
Our Center for Inquiry Based Learning was started in 2004, in large part thanks to the support of Harry Lucas Jr. and the EAF (Educational Advancement Foundation). It was created as one of several centers nationwide, with others at Harvard, UCSB, University of Chicago and University of Texas.
All centers were tasked to implement IBL in our programs. Our progress was assessed over a three-year period by Sandra Laursen and her team at E&ER at the University of Colorado at Boulder, showing strong results for IBL.
Different centers developed different styles of IBL. At Michigan, we put the emphasis on group work in class. The instructors carefully prepare worksheets. Groups of three, four students work on them. The instructor visits and helps if needed. For us, the instructor is a guide. The worksheets are constantly reviewed and adapted. Besides learning the mathematics, the students also learn to communicate both orally and in writing.
In the early years of the center, we introduced and overhauled a broad swath of courses, including freshmen seminars, introductory honors courses, core courses for math majors, and math education courses. Most of these courses continue to serve as key components of our program. Due to Departmental buy-in and its proven effectiveness, our IBL teaching method has spread to other courses. Most significantly, we teach our gateway to the math major linear algebra course, which serves 400-500 students per year this way.
Our center has trained a significant number of faculty, postdocs, graduate students and undergraduate students in IBL teaching methods, via workshops for instructors interested in IBL held in August and intensive teaching mentoring. Michigan hosts the largest postdoctoral mathematics program in the country with over 60 postdocs in residence. The vast majority of them either teach in our reformed calculus or the IBL program.
The center is closely aligned with several outreach activities, especially math circles, math circles for teachers (e.g.,WCMTC), the Michigan Math and Science Scholars summer program (MMSS) as well as the Laboratory of Geometry at Michigan. Most recently, a Michigan wide IBL consortium was started.
Our Center has received significant support from the NSF, EAF/Lucas, the University of Michigan, and many alumni, especially via gifts by the Parekh family, the Van Loo family, and Rodolfo deSapio.
