We discuss knowledge building in the context of government examinations in Hong Kong, and the need to develop twenty-first-century skills. Following this, we describe two pedagogical designs intended to develop knowledge building in this context: A gradual approach to develop it in four phases - developing a collaborative classroom culture, engaging in inquiry and curriculum adaptation, deepening knowledge-building discourse, and making use of knowledge-building principles and electronic portfolios - and an approach that extends from this to improve integration of the use of a web-based knowledge-building environment and classroom activities.