We live in time in which we are surrounded easily accessible informations and knowledges. In the past, only people who could read and write were considered literate, but today the concept of literacy has changed significantly and is defined differently. Man needs different abilities to adapt to changes in the world of science and technology, and one of those is natural science literacy. Children are very curious by nature and connected to nature because from the earliest age they participate in the exploration of nature and the creation image of nature through play and various activities. Students come to school with some prior knowledge of nature, and in the subject Nature and Society they have the opportunity to supplement their knowledge and develop natural science literacy. The role of teacher is to recognize this knowledge and provide adequate materials and conditions in which students will be able to develop and upgrade their natural science literacy. The modern form of teaching provides students opportunity for independent research and conclusion and develop knowledge through personal experiences that they will need later for work and life. The aim of this work was to point out the importance of develop natural science literacy and learning by research. In this work are also presented several practical works with the aim of learning by discovery encouraging natural science literacy at students. This practical works are experiments actually which can be used in classroom teaching. According to the results, Croatia is a country with below average results in natural science literacy. It shows of necessity inclusion natural science knowledge in teaching as a way of knowing and improvement natural science literacy at students. Natural science area has an important role in upbringing and lifelong education and it is connected with the STEM educational approach.