Physics education in the Danish upper secondary school system has undergone a major reform, starting in August 1988. The earlier science‐centred physics curriculum has given way to a presentation of physics as a human activity, one way of obtaining this aim being through a compulsory introduction to elements of the history and philosophy of science. Following a brief presentation of the main reasons for including the historical‐philosophical dimension in physics teaching, this article describes how this dimension‐‐which was unfamiliar to most physics teachers‐‐was implemented in daily teaching practice. The implementation took place in three steps: (1) the development of a comprehensive teachers’ guide, (2) a nationwide in‐service teacher training programme, and (3) the publication of a number of students’ books written according to the guidelines of the committee responsible for all aspects of the implementation programme.