On the 19th of March our pre-DP2 class and their history teacher Lucyna Staniczek invited the school community to their history lesson during which they staged an Oxford-style debate. The thesis was: “It was external factors that decisively led to the fall of the  Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 18th century.” Students had prepared the debate in previous lessons actively practising their research, thinking, communication, social and finally self-management skills. The two groups presented their arguments triggering a vivid interest in the topic among the audience. The debate was followed by some reflection – students discussed how different inquiry based learning is from traditional methods. They all agreed it allowed them to get deeper into the question and made them really interested. So: was it external factors that decisively led to the fall of the  Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 18th century? Now we know it was a combination of factors