The aim of this article is to promote a better understanding about the important role played by both the history and the philosophy of the science on the teaching of the scientific concepts, theories and models, in particular on the teaching of "the valency" concept; and, how is it presented in textbooks. Thus, a historic and epistemological study of this concept was done in order to define the main criteria to analyze different textbooks that are used at both secondary and university levels of the education in the Colombian system.
History and epistemology of science; valence; teaching and text books