There is a growing need in our society for highly qualified vocational technicians who not only possess traditional professional skills, but also are able to be reflective and to work in teams on complex problems. The current project focuses on the acquisition of these additional (21st century) skills for students in secondary vocational technical education, specifically skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, and reflection (i.e., metacognition). Students will acquire these skills in the context of engaging in inquiry learning with virtual science laboratories, and they will be supported in acquiring these skills by a set of dedicated, technology-based, cognitive tools. The project has three key goals. The first goal is to understand the process of how 21st century skills are acquired and to develop and evaluate a set of dedicated digital tools to support students in gaining 21st century skills. The second goal is to develop learning analytics techniques that will be used to inform both students and teachers about relevant aspects of the learning and collaboration processes involved. The third goal is to prepare teachers for an active role (supported by technology) in guiding students to acquire the needed 21st century skills. The tools, labs, learning analytics dashboard, and learning environments will be co-designed with teachers and students (and for the lab an industrial company). The effectiveness of tools and teacher interventions will be assessed in experimental studies. The tools, learning analytics dashboard, teaching interventions, and labs will be made freely accessible through a dedicated online portal.