The present work aims to contribute to the identification of the
role assigned to the History of science in the Portuguese Basic Learning system
verifying simultaneously if this role is defined according to what is defined and
established by legal documents such as the Junior High National Curriculum.
With this aim several 5th year manuals of Science were analysed according to
parameters that had been previously defined and validated by Leite (2002).
The reading of the results of this analysis shows that historic information,
through present, isn’t in most cases presented in the most appropriate manner
in that concerns the development of the correct conceptions about the nature
and evolution of scientific knowledge.