ABSTRACT
One of the greatest changes to secondary science teaching came about with the introduction of the National Curriculum in 1989 (NCC, 1989). Within the National Curriculum Order for Science were two Attainment Targets (ATs): Exploration of Science (AT1) and The Nature of Science (AT17). Never before had teachers been required to teach ‘the procedures of scientific exploration and investigation’ and ‘the ways in which scientific ideas change through time’ (NCC, 1989). The revision in 1991 reduced the total number of Attainment Targets to four, with the above two included in the new Programme of Study ‘Scientific Investigation’ (now commonly referred to as Sc1) where it was stated:
students should develop the intellectual and practical skills which will allow them to explore and investigate the world of science and develop a fuller understanding of scientific phenomena, the nature of the theories explaining these and the procedures of scientific investigation.
