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In this paper we discuss the foundations and process of design of a researchinformed instructional unit aimed for pre-service science teacher education. The unit covers some key ideas on the nature of science (around methodology, theory change, scientific inference and explanation, values, gender issues) anchoring them in a wellknown episode from the history of science-the 'discovery' of radium by the Curies. Such episode is mainly examined as reconstructed in the 1997 French commercial film 'Les Palmes de Monsieur Schutz'. Pre-service science teachers are required to solve three tasks, individually and in small groups; those tasks are respectively centred around: (1) the distinction between 'discovering' and 'inventing'; (2) scientific modelling via abduction; and (3) the extended hagiographic treatment of the figure of Madame Curie. Plenary debates around the tasks aim at acquainting pre-service science teachers with some powerful concepts of twentieth century philosophy of science.A preliminary, much shorter, version of this paper was published (Adúriz-Bravo and Izquierdo-Aymierich

In our research within didactics of science, we have been exploring contributions of the socalled cognitive models from contemporary philosophy of science. We have used these philosophical frameworks on different levels. As an outcome, we have formulated a model of didactics of science according to which this discipline adapts and transforms theoretical contributions from different scholarly fields. In this paper, we concentrate on this description of didactics of science, which we have called the 3P-model (i.e., philosophy + psychology + pedagogy). This model of the internal functioning of the discipline may be useful to make innovations in science curriculum design and re-conceptualise the role of science teachers as professionals. We see didactics of science as a set of interrelated activities, performed by different individuals, and ranging from theoretical production to practice of science education at school. We find the concept of technoscience suitable to account for this diversity of goals. According to this concept, scientific disciplines are identified both with generation of knowledge and with active intervention on the world. Within current didactics of science, we recognise several kinds of research, having goals more or less directed to practical intervention in science education.

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In this paper we present an analysis of chemistry texts (mainly textbooks) published during the first half of the 20th century. We show the evolution of the explanations therein in terms of atoms and of atomic structure, when scientists were interpreting phenomena as evidence of the discontinuous, corpuscular structure of matter. In this process of evidence construction, new contributions from physicists and physical chemists that were incorporated to chemical research acquired 'chemical' meaning, since they were related to research questions that genuinely came from chemistry. Conversely, the core ideas of 19th-century chemical atomism, among which we must highlight valence and Mendeleev's periodic system, provided 'clues' for imagining an atom in terms of the elements adjusted to their chemical behaviour, which changed periodically as a function of atomic mass. With this, chemistry ceased to be a descriptive science and began to be a 'law-based', theoretical science. Little by little, chemistry teaching became the teaching of the internal structure of atoms, which were arranged in the Periodic Table according to criteria and 'construction rules' related to quantum mechanics. We pose the question: 'how can we now teach general chemistry in a way that does not disregard current knowledge about the structure of the atom yet, at the same time, gives priority to chemical criteria, thus making such structure useful to interpret chemical change?'. M. Izquierdo-Aymerich (&) Á A. Adúriz-Bravo

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Resumen: En un artículo anterior presentamos como caso de estudio el actual problema de la membresía del grupo 3 de la tabla periódica, visibilizando las distintas interpretaciones científico-filosóficas y sus propuestas de solución. En esta segunda parte, el propósito es brindar algunas ideas fundamentadas en la investigación en didáctica, historia y filosofía de la química que destacan el valor de la argumentación y la explicación como habilidades cognitivo-lingüísticas y competenciales para comunicar los problemas filosóficos e históricos que son propios en la construcción de conocimiento químico. El debate sobre el grupo 3 de la tabla periódica es un buen ejemplo de una reflexión teorizada en la que están inmersos los investigadores de la tabla periódica en la actualidad, y este trabajo sugiere algunas estrategias para su enseñanza y aprendizaje.

Resumen: El propósito de este trabajo es proporcionar algunas ideas fundamentadas en la investigación en didáctica, historia y filosofía de la química que valoran propiciar procesos de argumentación y explicación en clase, visibilizando y comprendiendo los problemas filosóficos inherentes que presenta dicha disciplina científica. Sobre la base de este objetivo, presentaremos como caso de estudio el actual problema de la membresía del grupo 3 de la tabla periódica de los elementos y, a partir del mismo, cómo promover la argumentación y la explicación científica para comprender su problemática y controversia. En esta primera parte, presentaremos dicho problema, visibilizando las distintas interpretaciones y propuestas de solución. En la segunda parte, profundizamos en las directrices que nos proporciona la investigación en didáctica de la química e historia de la química con la finalidad de promover la argumentación y la explicación científica en el aula y contribuir así a aprendizajes de nivel superior.