Why is science hard to learn?

Abstract This paper argues that science's reputation as a 'hard' subject can be attributed to four intrinsic features of science and/or learners: that science knowledge provides, for many learners, insufficient 'pay off' for the effort involved in understanding; that learning science involves reconstructions of meaning; that the tension between science as consensually agreed knowledge and science as enquiry is confusing and eventually alienating for many learners; and because science is abstract. The reasons for a link between abstraction and difficulty are briefly explored. It is suggested that certain extrinsic features of science education, resulting from choices by science educators, exacerbate these intrinsic difficulties.