Based on a historical and epistemological study of the explanations of Galeno and Harvey about the movement of blood in the human body, this paper discusses the role of the History of Science in teacher education. The article focuses on the confrontation of problems stemming from historically decontextualized teaching of analogies found within the content of Biology. It also discusses those problems related to conceptions about the nature of scientific knowledge found in science teachers. Based on the concepts of Polish epistemologist and physician Ludwick Fleck, the analytical categories - "style of thinking", "collective thinking" and "inter and intra-collective circulation of ideas and practices" are used for an analysis of two successive interpretations that have been used to explain the movement of blood in the human body. The use of bibliographies is recommended as well as the production of texts suitable for the insertion of the History and Philosophy of Sciences in school curricula, particularly those concerning teacher education.
History and Philosophy of Science; analogies; blood circulation; teacher education