At The University of X we educate future geography teachers for the secondary school system. Currently we have two courses (DidG and DidnatV) in science education that students attend in addition to their studies in geography. In both courses, students come from a wide range of science subjects besides geography (physics, geology, chemistry, computer science and biology) giving the students an opportunity to related their own subject with other science subjects. This paper documents and explores how the use of learning objectives in the most advanced course (DidnatV), influences and guides our teaching practice. It further reflects upon how student learning processes can be framed by using inquiry as an instructional framework. We start by showing how the different elements in the course reflect the learning objectives within a framework of inquiry and then give an example with a look at the planning and implementation of a laboratory activity developed by one of the students. In this example the student chooses the topic ‘The Greenland pump’, which has as its teaching/learning objective, an understanding of the currents in the Atlantic Ocean. The paper describes the outline of the exercise and discusses the learning potential for students in secondary school according to the inquiry framework. Reflections are made as to how the exercise could be further developed. We also explore how a final exam can be given as an authentic teaching experience where students are directly tested while teaching according to the learning objectives. In this case we use the example of learning about HIV in a biology course where our students working together in an examination situation are evaluated while teaching high school classes. Finally, we discuss future directions of the course.