Perusing Padora's Box: Exploring The What, When, And How Of Nature Of Science Instruction

In his presentation at the 1968 annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Marshall Herron (1969) noted that the latest trend among curriculum planners was to promote the nature of science as a curricular objective of “paramount importance.” Yet he doubted that most who used the term had reached a “sound and detailed understanding” of its educational ramifications. He feared that nature of science was in danger of becoming another trite educational cliché to be bandied about in discussions among science educators and ignored by classroom teachers.