There are some main goals of science education explained by the researchers. One of these aims is developing informed nature of science understanding. In order to achieve these aims science education should have instructional materials a wide range of methodologies, and inquiry procedures (Hurd, 1970). In the National Science Education Standards it was emphasized that history of science has an important role while achieving science education goals (NCR 1996). Teaching science integrating with history of science has been investigated by many researchers over a century (Lin, 1998; Matthews, 1994; Solomon, Duveen, & Scot, 1992). Solomon, et al. (1992, p.410) explain the advantage of incorporating history of science in science teaching in these main areas “a) better learning of concepts of science, b) increased interest and motivation, c) an introduction of the philosophy of science, d) a better attitude of the public towards science, and understanding of social relevance of science”.

 Teachers use the history of science in their instructions for different purposes namely; to promote conceptual understanding, procedural understanding, and contextual understanding (Wang & Marsh, 2002). In one such study, researchers (Wang & Marsh, 2002) intended to investigate teachers’ perceptions of the instructional role of the history of science, and their practices of teaching science from a historical point of view. In this study history of science instructional survey was implemented to twelve teachers, and then among these teachers five of them were selected for the interview. History of science instructional survey includes three domains of understanding as history of science conceptual framework(described in detail p.180), namely; conceptual understanding, procedural understanding, and contextual understanding. The findings of this study revealed that teachers were more likely to incorporate historical elements regarding contextual understanding than the other categories. Especially teachers did not integrate procedural understanding with their curriculum. Teachers believed their curriculum was overloaded with topics; therefore they could not emphasize the importance of the history of science in their curriculum.

Another study (Wang, & Cox-Petersen, 2002) which aims to compare elementary, secondary and student teachers’ perceptions and practices related to history of science instruction was the extended version of previous study (Wang & Marsh, 2002). Sample consisted of 43 elementary teachers, 8 middle school science teachers, and 21 high school science teachers. The findings of the study showed that teachers had different views with respect to their grade levels which they teach. Most high school teachers use history of science to promote students’ understanding of the content and nature of scientific knowledge. Also they used history of science to develop their scientific process skills. Most elementary teachers support that the history of science can help students’ understanding the role of science in the society, and to increase students’ positive attitude toward science.

      The purposes of present study had two aspects: (1) to describe pre-service science teachers’(PSTs) perceptions and practices about using history of science in their instructions and their experiences as in-service teachers (2) to determine the relationship between PSTs perception and practices about using history of science in their classrooms.

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