In an effort to improve student understanding of exercise physiology concepts, an undergraduate laboratory course began using an inquiry-based learning model during Spring 2000 (Kolkhorst et al., 2001). The intent of this learning style is for students to take a more active role in their learning, whereas instructors are to become facilitators, rather than providers, of information. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate whether instructors utilizing this model understood its aims and whether this translated into a reduction of the amount of instructor-initiated behaviors. Four instructors were graduate teaching assistants and another instructor was a senior faculty member: all instructors were in their third semester of using this learning model and had previously taught laboratories utilizing a more traditional approach. Systematic observations of teaching behaviors were made over a semester using the Behavior Analysis Tool (BAT) (Goldberger, 1989) that was modified by the addition of categories to differentiate between instructor probes to student questions and resulting student responses. During a semester, two trained observers independently recorded discrete instructor-initiated and student-to-instructor behaviors (inter-observer reliability >90%) of four laboratory sections taught by two instructors. Student-to-student interactions were not documented. Data were recorded in 10-min increments interspersed with 2-min breaks. Comparison of the BAT discrete behaviors between the initial 4 weeks and final 7 weeks of the semester indicated that the average frequency of instructor-to-student and student-to-instructor behaviors decreased from 372 to 133 occurrences per laboratory session (2.7 h in length). Moreover, there was a relative decrease in instructor-initiated behaviors, from 54% to 48%, with an increase in student-initiated behaviors, from 19% to 29%, during the semester. These results suggest that students became less dependent on the instructor for information and direction. In addition to the BAT observations, post-semester interviews were conducted by two trained interviewers on five laboratory instructors. Interviews, which were approximately 35-45 min in length, consisted of 14 questions that were analyzed qualitatively through thematic categorization both across and within individual interviews. Prior to analysis, each interview transcript was sent to the respective instructor for a member check. Interview comments consistently indicated that instructors understood their role was to be one of facilitation. Both BAT results and interviews indicate that instructors were purposefully trying to create an atmosphere of student-centered learning. Interview comments also indicated that instructors believed this learning model to be more effective for developing critical thinking skills in students.Keyword(s): college level issues, curriculum development, research