The implications of the present findings are clearly relevant for the successful implementation of the reforms advocated by the Benchmarks for science literacy (AAAS, 1993) and National science education standards (NRC, 1996) related to the nature of science. These reforms place a significant emphasis on students’ understandings of the nature of science. As with any curriculum reform, success will be contingent upon teachers internalizing the importance of the stated goals (Clark & Peterson, 1986) of the reform and their ability to transform these goals into classroom practice.