Although much research is still needed, the schooling of the sciences (i.e., the way in which science subjects have been incorporated in the school curriculum) has received more attention than most other subjects of the curriculum (DeBoer 1991). Both historical and ethnographic studies (Goodson and Ball 1984) indicate the socially and politically constructed nature of school science curricula and, more particularly, the ways in which both content and pedagogy reflect several widely held assumptions about, for example, pupils’ ability, their likely future occupations, the role of women in society, and, ultimately, about the purpose of particular types of curriculum or schooling.

The attention given to school science reflects the fact that aspects of the sciences, such as laboratory work, present unique problems. It is also an acknowledgement that accommodating the scientific disciplines in the curriculum challenged the historical basis of school education. That basis lay in the teaching...