THE CONCEPT OF NATURAL SCIENTIFIC LITERACY AND TRENDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF COGNITIVE ABILITIES IN TEACHING OF NATURE AND HUMAN SUBJECTS IN GRADES 5-6

The importance of natural scientific literacy is emphasized at both national and international levels. TIMSS (2016) study report highlights that in today's world, citizens who want to make competent decisions about themselves and the world in which they live must aware of natural sciences. However interest in nature science is poor, and achievements of pupils in international research are significantly worse than a global average. The question is whether the concept of natural scientific literacy and assessment of achievements, as defined in the country's general curricula and other educational documents, are in line with the concept of international research in the field of natural sciences and measured cognitive abilities and how natural sciences competence is developed, and which cognitive abilities dominate in the educational process. The article analyzes the concept of natural scientific literacy in national and international research documents and trends in teaching of nature and human subjects in grades 5-6, analyzing the use of tasks of EMA (www.epratybos.lt).