Explaining scientific concepts to students is one of the key activities engaged in by science teachers. Scientific theories have explanatory power: they explain our experiences and observations of the natural world. The philosophy of explanation has sought, since Plato, to understand the features of scientific explanations. There are similarities and differences between the ways in which scientific explanations explain the world and the ways in which science teachers explain (or explicate) these scientific explanations as they seek to help their students come to understand.

This article outlines a brief history of the philosophical treatment of explanation, discusses the application of those ideas to teacher explanation in science education and outlines the research literature on teacher explanations in science education.