The dismal performance of Qatari adolescents on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006 science assessment unearths some of the serious flaws in the present education system in Qatar, and its fiasco in adequately preparing Qataris for the challenges of today''s technology-based societies. There is a growing consensus among science experts that instructional contexts that stimulate students'' motivation to inquire and learn, enabling them to use cognitive and metacognitive strategies, are vital to enhance students'' scientific inquiry skills and scientific literacy. Hence the focus of Qatar''s recent K-12 school reform initiative, Education for a New Era, should be on creating classroom environments that are inquiry-based, and that support their students in developing informed views of scientific inquiry and the nature of science.