Inquiry-Based Teaching

a dialogue between entrepreneurship and the film “Joy”

Abstract

This study investigated how inquiry-based teaching can contribute to the development of critical thinking and entrepreneurial competencies among high school students, considering the recurrent difficulty they experience in relating concepts of financial education and entrepreneurship to their socioeconomic realities. Using the film “Joy: The Name of Success” as a didactic resource, the study examined how this approach supports the understanding of these themes. This qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive research was conducted over five consecutive sessions with 30 first-year high school students. Data were produced through participant observation and a logbook, and subsequently subjected to interpretative analysis informed by the literature. The results indicated increased student engagement, an enhanced ability to identify entrepreneurial characteristics, and the establishment of connections between the protagonist’s challenges and the students’ own experiences. The intervention demonstrated a positive impact by fostering reflections on innovation, resilience, and decision-making, suggesting that inquiry-based teaching is an effective strategy for connecting financial education content to students’ everyday lives and promoting meaningful learning.