A General Model for Developing, Validating and Evaluating Nature of Science and Other Science Curricula and Instructional Materials

Nature of science research continues to generate a high level of interest among educators and scholars. Despite the fact that the nature of science is a continually evolving and highly complex instructional endeavour, there are no comprehensive instructional models available for researchers that can systematically capture and organize this theoretical ‘universe ’ of content and then translate this content into educationally sound and validated classroom materials, activities and representations. In addressing these issues, this article further elaborates a general model of instructional materials development initially formulated by Carifio (1974, 1976 & 1977) which has recently been used by others to develop curricula and instructional materials in non-science areas, and applies the model to nature of science studies in particular and science curricula in general. The implications of this model are discussed