Perspectives on natural science teaching

School curricula should give prominence to content that is relevant to both societies and individuals. For this reason, global challenges are increasingly being highlighted in discussions. However, global challenges and how people need to deal with them can only be understood if they are the focus of teaching for an appropriate amount of time. We, therefore, need a new subject that draws on many disciplines but is based on educational theory. The present article presents a perspective on natural science teaching, predicated on the assumption that Central European Theory or Concept of Bildung engenders favourable conditions for the advancement of our societies, and indeed, for the establishment of conditions conducive to both socially adequate and fulfilling individual development. This article argues that it is imperative to prioritise the needs of both society and the individual within an educational framework by examining the most significant constraints on current natural science teaching and learning, such as time on task, socio-metacognition (mainly introspection and evaluation of collective information), in combination with sense making.