Vol. 14 No. 1 (2025), 28-33

The new curriculum standard is the basic norm and quality requirement that the state sets for basic education courses. Physical education is a compulsory course stipulated by the new curriculum standard. To meet the needs of future society, teaching methods should also be continuously reformed. Against the backdrop of the new curriculum standard, inquiry-based teaching methods are particularly important in physical education teaching. This design is an experimental study conducted for 12 weeks on 87 students from Class 4 and Class 5 of Grade 9 in Wuxiang No. 5 Middle School, using methods such as literature review, experimental method, mathematical statistics, and questionnaire survey. Among them, the test group consists of 44 students, and the control group consists of 43 students. The experimental research shows that both inquiry-based teaching methods and traditional teaching methods can improve students’ long jump performance and physical fitness, but compared to conventional teaching methods, inquiry-based learning method has a more significant effect on improving students’ physical fitness and long jump performance. Moreover, the inquiry-based teaching method has a better impact on students’ attitudes towards physical education learning than traditional learning methods, indicating the effectiveness of inquiry-based teaching in physical education. At the same time, the inquiry-based teaching method can also increase students’ initiative and enthusiasm, making the classroom atmosphere livelier. However, inquiry-based teaching requires higher abilities from teachers and students’ autonomy. Teachers need to improve their professional quality, while also considering the actual situation of students, who also need to enhance their enthusiasm and initiative to participate in the classroom. However, the study has certain limitations, including a small sample size and incomplete assessment, and future research can expand the sample size and assessment content.