a dynamic approach to learning that involves exploring the world, asking questions, making discoveries, and rigorously testing those discoveries in the search for new understanding. For an introduction, with further links, see for example Thirteen Ed Online or Jakes, Pennington, and Knodle.

An approach to learning that involves children actively in independent or collaborative inquiry that fosters deep engagement, intellectual rigour and participation in substantive conversations (see Substantive conversation). Inquiry-based learning involves children questioning, theorising, hypothesising, discussing, recalling, interpreting, and with support, analysing and deciding on future action. The teacher interacts to motivate, prompt, question, initiate conversations and summarise ideas generated through discussions. Inquiry-based learning often provides a springboard into longer-term investigations, called negotiated projects (see Negotiated projects).