Teaching methods are discussed in teacher education also in the framework of “21st
Century Skills” movement. This movement refers to the redefining of the goals of education
and how learning is organised in order to meet the demands of the 21st Century (Trilling &
Fadel, 2009). There have been several endeavours, like OECD PISA and DeSeCo, aiming to
describe, what students should learn in order to support them in personal, societal, and
economic success. OECD (2005) takes competence in the DeSeCo-project to mean more
than just knowledge and skills. It involves the ability to meet complex demands, by drawing
on and mobilising psychosocial resources (including knowledge, skills and attitudes) in a
particular context. DeSeCo identifies a small set of key competencies, rooted in a theoretical understanding how such competencies are defined. According to DeSeCo-project each key
competency must “Contribute to valued outcomes for societies and individuals; help
individuals meet important demands in a wide variety of contexts; and be important not
just for specialists but for all individuals“. Individuals need both critical and creative
thinking and should be able to use a wide range of tools, like socio-cultural (language) and
technological tools (Information and Communication Technologies, ICT) for interacting
effectively with the environment; to engage and interact in a heterogeneous group; to take
responsibility for managing their own lives and act autonomously. In current situation,
aims for science education are emphasising critical thinking. This is easily seen in the PISA
framework which emphasises three main competencies: identifying issues (questioning),
making conclusions based on information and explaining phenomena. Therefore, there is
hardly space for creative thinking and generation of ideas in science education.