More importantly for the purposes of the present study, the nature of science was frequently
mentioned as an important instructional goal. Three respondents stressed teaching science
content with less emphasis on rote learning of factual knowledge and more emphasis on unifying
themes, including the nature of science, science processes, and the impact of technology on
science and society. Additionally, two of the participants emphasized teaching for scienti®c
literacy which, according to their descriptions, included an understanding of the nature of
science. Overall, 5 of the 11 preservice teachers (45%) included the nature of science or aspects
of the nature of science among their primary teaching goals. This compares to 3 out of 14
preservice teachers (21%) in the previous study who mentioned the nature of science when asked
what they should emphasize in their teaching. It should be noted that this question was asked ®rst
during the interview in order to decrease the possibility that participants' responses would be
biased by their recognition of the nature of science to be the focus of subsequent questions. Thus,
even in the absence of directive questions or cues, the nature of science was notable in the
preservice teachers' list of important instructional outcomes.