This study assessed the influence of a 3‐year professional development program on elementary teachers' views of nature of science (NOS), instructional practice to promote students' appropriate NOS views, and the influence of participants' instruction on elementary student NOS views. Using the VNOS‐B and associated interviews the researchers tracked the changes in NOS views of teacher participants throughout the professional development program. The teachers participated in explicit–reflective activities, embedded in a program that emphasized scientific inquiry and inquiry‐based instruction, to help them improve their own elementary students' views of NOS. Elementary students were interviewed using the VNOS‐D to track changes in their NOS views, using classroom observations to note teacher influences on student ideas. Analysis of the VNOS‐B and VNOS‐D showed that teachers and most grades of elementary students showed positive changes in their views of NOS. The teachers also improved in their science pedagogy, as evidenced by analysis of their teaching. Implications for teacher professional development programs are made. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 653–680, 2007

This study explored the influence of a Saturday Science program that used explicit reflective instruction through contextualized and decontextualized guided and authentic inquiry on K‐2 students’ views of nature of science (NOS). The six‐week program ran for 2.5 hours weekly and emphasized NOS in a variety of science content areas, culminating in an authentic inquiry designed and carried out by the K‐2 students. The Views of Nature of Science Form D was used to interview K‐2 students pre‐ and post‐instruction. Copies of student work were retained for content analysis. Videotapes made of each week’s science instruction were reviewed to ensure that explicit reflective NOS instruction took place. Explicit NOS teaching strategies included (1) introducing NOS through decontextualized activities, (2) embedding NOS into science content through contextualized activities, (3) using children’s literature, (4) debriefings and embedded NOS assessments, and (5) guided and student‐designed inquiries. Results indicate that K‐2 students improved their NOS views over the course of the program, suggesting that they are developmentally ready for these concepts. Students developed adequate views of the distinction between observation and inference, the creative NOS, the tentative NOS, the empirical NOS, and to a lesser degree, the subjective NOS.