The present article reviews aspects of the controversy in nineteenth-century physical sciences between atomists and anti-atomists, and the scientific, philosophical and methodological aspects about the atomic debates. The meanings of the atom concept used by physicists and chemists in that century are also discussed.

Relata-se um estudo de caso que teve como objetivo explorar as potencialidades de aproximação entre História e Filosofia da Ciência da educação científica mediante utilização do ensino de História da Química. Visou-se auxiliar os alunos na compreensão da natureza da ciência e no aprendizado de conceitos químicos. O estudo envolveu a intervenção de uma professora/investigadora numa disciplina de História da Química e teve caráter exploratório, com abordagem de pesquisa qualitativa. A análise dos resultados utilizou o modelo misto, com categorias analíticas definidas a priori, que nortearam as dimensões epistemológicas de análise e a identificação de categorias emergentes, construídas a partir das respostas dos alunos a questionários abertos. Os resultados obtidos confirmaram a importância do espaço dessa disciplina para os alunos conhecerem a natureza da ciência, adquirindo concepções menos simplistas e mais contextualizadas sobre a ciência, apesar de alguma dificuldade na superação de concepções realistas ingênuas fortemente enraizadas em suas visões epistemológicas.

This paper presents the results of an exploratory study undertaken during a course of History of Chemistry for Chemistry students. The course aimed to help students to understand the nature of science and basic concepts in chemistry . The study, conducted by the course teacher, analyzed the convergence between history, and philosophy of science education and had a qualitative approach using participant observation. The data were qualitatively analyzed using a "mixed model", with two kinds of analytical categories: epistemological categories previously defined, that guided the epistemological dimensions of analysis and categories built from the answers given by the students through open questionnaires. The results show that the History of Chemistry course was important for the students to improve their knowledge about the nature of science. The students had less simplistic and more contextualized conceptions about the nature of science, in spite of the difficulty of overcoming some strongly embedded notions in the students' epistemological views.

Environmental education is a big challenge in this century and the University has an important role to play in it. This paper presents a practical experience of environmental education in the university teaching at the University of Bahia. That experience involves the creation of an interdisciplinary group that has been developing research and teaching activities with interdisciplinary perspectives. The paper also discusses a methodology proposed by this group aiming to include environmental education in science teaching using social and cultural approaches.