This study explores the nature and meaning of various epistemological and affective issues that shape elementary teachers' work, such as ways of knowing, beliefs about the nature of science, values, emotions, and teachers' images of themselves as knowers. Through analyses of two teachers' narratives, classroom observations, and instructional materials, this research reveals how teachers' emotions and values are significant dimensions of science teaching and can explicitly or implicitly be part of their personal and professional development. This study offers an alternative perspective to discussions on the relationship between teachers' beliefs and classroom practice, and it presents a more valid methodological approach to avoid past research assumptions that teachers' beliefs are necessarily reflected in classroom practice. Contains 53 references. (DDR)