Generating Insights to Enhance the Quality of Inquiry Learning through Collaboration with Schools and the Private Sector

Center for Advanced School Education and Evidence-based Research (CASEER), affiliated with the Graduate School of Education, the University of Tokyo, and Education and Inquiry Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Kanji Miyaji; hereafter “Education and Inquiry”) launched a joint research project on November 1, 2025. This study aims to examine the current state of inquiry-based learning in lower and upper secondary schools and its impact on students’ learning experiences and attitudes.

This research focuses in particular on inquiry-based learning programs developed in collaboration with private-sector organizations. The project involves research design, data collection, and analysis, and the findings will be published in research reports and related outputs. By integrating CASEER’s academic expertise with the practical knowledge that Education and Inquiry has accumulated over more than 20 years of collaboration with schools, the study seeks to generate insights that contribute to improving the quality of inquiry-based learning.

Background

Inquiry-based learning has become widespread across lower and upper secondary schools in Japan, with practices becoming increasingly diverse. At the same time, there is a growing need to reassess and share—based on the realities of school settings—what kinds of approaches lead to what kinds of learning outcomes.

Education and Inquiry has supported students’ inquiry-based learning through programs such as Quest Education, developed in collaboration with companies, local governments, and educational institutions. Building on these practices, the research will involve surveys conducted at 20 schools during the current academic year, with plans to expand the scale in subsequent years.

CASEER is a research center dedicated to advancing school education and examining educational effectiveness through empirical research and dissemination. Through initiatives such as panel surveys conducted in collaboration with the Secondary School attached to the Faculty of Education, the University of Tokyo, CASEER has worked to visualize educational practices, including inquiry-oriented learning.

Through this joint research project, the two organizations aim to bring together their respective strengths to examine the realities and effects of inquiry-based learning from multiple perspectives. Looking ahead, the continued use of shared survey instruments may also enable longitudinal analyses of educational outcomes.

Overview of the Joint Research

• Research Topic:
  A Study on the Current State and Impact of Inquiry-Based Learning in Lower and Upper Secondary Schools
  (with a focus on inquiry-based learning programs developed in collaboration with private-sector organizations)

   

• Research Activities:
  Research design / Data collection / Analysis / Dissemination of findings

   

• Scale of the Study (planned):
  20 schools in the current academic year

Research Team

Lead Researcher (CASEER)

Yuki Honda
Professor, Graduate School of Education, the University of Tokyo
Director, Center for Advanced School Education and Evidence-based Research (CASEER)

The realities of inquiry-based learning in educational settings are highly diverse, and there is a clear need to better understand these varied practices. At the same time, a certain proportion of schools, teachers, and students remain hesitant or disengaged in their approach to inquiry-based learning. For this reason, it is also essential to demonstrate—based on empirical data—why inquiry-based learning matters and what kinds of significance and educational effects it can have.

Although the present study focuses on a specific inquiry-based learning program, it seeks to control key elements of the content and instructional methods in order to collect data of sufficient scale from a large number of schools and students. Through this approach, the study aims to clarify how individual students’ modes of engagement, teachers’ instructional practices, and the dynamics of student teams are related to students’ perceptions of learning outcomes and self-awareness after completing inquiry-based learning activities. We believe that this research will contribute important empirical insights to the broader field of inquiry-based learning.

Lead Researcher from the Private Sector Partner

Sota Fukushima
Development Department Manager, Education and Inquiry Co., Ltd.

Inquiry-based learning has spread widely across Japan; however, the processes through which these practices lead to changes in students’ learning experiences and awareness have not yet been sufficiently examined or shared. In this study, we aim to re-examine both the realities and effects of inquiry-based learning by combining the accumulated practical knowledge that Education and Inquiry has developed in collaboration with schools with CASEER’s rigorous research design and analytical frameworks.

By carefully examining how factors such as individual students’ approaches to learning, teachers’ modes of involvement, and the ways in which learning activities are structured relate to students’ perceived learning outcomes and self-understanding, we hope to identify meaningful clues for enhancing the quality of inquiry-based learning. We believe that the reciprocal interaction between educational practice and academic research will enable a more multidimensional understanding of inquiry-based learning, and that the continued accumulation and dissemination of such findings as shared knowledge for both schools and society will form a foundation for advancing inquiry-based learning to its next stage.

Overview of the Joint Research Partner Organization

Education and Inquiry Co., Ltd.

• Address:
  Tōetsu Hakuyō Building 6F, 4-9 Yonbancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0081, Japan

• Established:
  November 2004

• President and CEO:
  Kanji Miyaji

• Business Activities:
  Planning, development, production, and delivery of inquiry-based learning and human resource development programs—most notably the inquiry-based learning program Quest Education—as well as related training and professional development services for lower and upper secondary schools.

Contact Information

Center for Advanced School Education and Evidence-based Research (CASEER)
Email: c-kodoka [at] p.u-tokyo.ac.jp