Towards a Curricular Model of the Nature of Science

Abstract The nature of science is a complex theme, and continues to be the subject of ad-vanced and ongoing scholarship, drawing upon a range of disciplines. Therefore, whatever is presented in school science as being ‘the ’ nature of science must at best be a simplification, and so there is a need to form judgements about which simplifications are most appropriate. Effective ‘curricular models ’ of science concepts are designed simplifications of scientific models that guide teachers by indicating target knowledge that is deemed appropriate in terms of the prior learning and conceptual development of a group of learners, and which is both ‘intellectually honest ’ and a suitable basis for further learning. A similar approach can guide teaching about the nature of science. A consideration of the English National Curriculum offers an example of how aims relating to the teaching of the nature of science may not be realised in the absence of a suitable explicit curricular model to guide teaching