Teachers are educators. Education is the area of focus for science teachers and the science is
merely the vehicle for this. The term ‘education through science’ is proposed to express the
intentions for the teaching-learning approach geared to the nature of science education
advocated in this article. The proposed nature of science education is thus not about stressing
the ways of the scientist any more than history is taught for students to become historians, or
language is taught to become linguists. It is proposed that science in school is part of the
education provision and any science content is gained so as to enhance that education in the
nature of the subject, the personal or the social domains. Table 2 below illustrates a comparison
of ‘education through science’ with ‘science through education’ – the alternative if in the short
term, nature of science, or a content approach to science teaching, is the sole basis for the
nature of science education proposed.
Table 2 about here
While the inclusion of personal and society domains into the learning structure are expected to
enhance the relevance of science teaching, the approach is not explicit and the need for a
stronger theoretical construct is needed. This is provided by activity theory.