We designed a course based on inquiry learning using WISE, an online inquiry-based science environment platform, and the 5E instructional model. This article summarizes guidelines used in designing the course, analyses of student needs and school environment, setting of course objectives, modification of materials, and evaluation of student performance. A “Healthy Life” course based on those guidelines was implemented, along with a teacher-training workshop, in two schools, and pretests and posttests were administered to evaluate the achievements of the project participants. The results showed that the participants had constructed scientific concepts and improved their level of cognitive knowledge. An efficiency questionnaire and semistructured interviews demonstrated the effectiveness of the course, thus indicating that we should share the guidelines and features of the Healthy Life course with other course designers and teachers.

Guiding students to generate testable scientific questions is essential in the inquiry classroom, but it is not easy. The purpose of the BDC (“Big Idea, Divergent Thinking, and Convergent Thinking”) instructional model is to to scaffold students’ inquiry learning. We illustrate the use of this model with an example lesson, designed to help 5th-grade students understand the concept of plant growth. The BDC model functions as an exploration of, and a connection with, related information among students’ scientific knowledge, skills, and practice, so that students can further generate research ideas. Students are able to more easily formulate testable questions and are also highly motivated throughout the course of their inquiry practice. This instructional model provides teachers with a practical and meaningful tool, one that increases students’ capabilities to formulate researchable questions and sustains their motivation to engage in activities of scientific and creative inquiry.

Most teachers agree that writing is an important skill for students to master, yet not all teachers incorporate writing assignments in their courses. Employers agree that written communication is important for college graduates, yet in a survey, less than 10% of employers thought that colleges did a good job preparing students for work. Writing an animal species account for Animal Diversity Web ( http://animaldiversity.org ) provides students with a real-world example of writing skills and provides resources to instructors who want to incorporate writing in their classes.

A partnership between scientists, high school teachers, and their students provides authentic research experiences to help students understand the nature and processes of science. The Partnership for Research and Education in Plants (PREP) engages students in a large-scale genomics research project using classroom-tested protocols that can help to find the function of a disabled gene in the widely studied plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Here, we describe the framework of PREP in the classroom within the context of the National Science Education Standards.