This article reports on 18 months of action research that monitored British pupils' learning about the nature of science, using some aspects of history of science for the purpose. The action research took place within five classrooms and involved practicing teachers who used a set of historical materials specially written for this study. Preliminary findings about the common perceptions of the nature of science held by middle school pupils (age 11–14 years) guided the work, which was carried out using a variety of methodologies. The results obtained show some areas of substantial progress in the pupils' understanding of the nature of science, and others where little change seems to have been effected.

This article gives both the pedagogic and scientific thinking that guided the construction of a classroom role‐play—The Great Evolution Debate. This role‐play is about the publication of Darwin's The Origin of Species, which is supposed to be on trial for blasphemy. Historical characters are used to show the range of ideas which were current at that time. The literature on learning history, and on learning about the nature of science, is discussed, leading to an examination of historical empathy as a classroom objective. The reasons for including the various characters in the role‐play are explained. The exercise has been used by 15 to 16‐year‐old students in British high schools with considerable success, and some tentative findings about learning from role‐play are drawn from its observation.