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Current reforms in science education emphasise Inquiry Based Learning to help students both understand scientific facts and the way scientific knowledge is created. In this view, science instruction must go beyond simply teaching science as a body of knowledge. Today's teachers are challenged to engage students in a broader view of science—one that addresses the development of scientific knowledge and the very nature of the knowledge itself. In other words, science teachers are increasingly being encouraged to teach about the nature of science.
Decades of research on teaching and learning about the nature of science points to some specific approaches that can make instruction about the nature of science both more effective and engaging.
In this Distance Learning Activity, ways to actively address the nature of science in an inspiring way will be presented and discussed.
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Christian Bertsch is Professor of Science Education at the University of Teacher Education in Vienna. He worked as advisor for the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology developing new ways of linking science and society and took part in several FP6 and FP7 projects on the dissemination of Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) in Europe. In his current research he is focusing on the outcomes of Continuous Professional Development for science teachers and students conceptions of the Nature of Science (NOS). 
