Inquiry-based learning
I used to think teaching only meant clear lessons, tight objectives, and content delivered efficiently.
Then one day, I walked into class and wrote a single question on the board:
“Why do humans invent things—and where do our ideas come from?”
No slides. No lecture. Just curiosity.
At first, there was silence. Then a hand went up. Then another.
By the end of the hour, students were talking about nature, skateboards, birds, prosthetics, connecting ideas I hadn’t even considered.
They organized themselves, researched, argued, built things, and presented like it mattered.
And it did.
That moment changed how I teach.
It taught me that inquiry-based learning isn’t about throwing away the curriculum. It is about trusting students to wonder, and trusting ourselves to follow that wonder with them.
It starts with one good question.
And the courage to not have the answer.
What questions do you start your lesson with?