This case study explores the ways in which a beginning elementary classroom teacher gains a foothold in teaching science. The analysis includes episodes from the teacher's first three years of teaching while participating in an educational research project that investigated an inquiry-based approach to teacher professional development. The particulars of the teacher's experiences learning scientific content and practices are examined as well as the initial struggles to bring students' ideas into contact with standard scientific knowledge and ways of knowing. (Contains 61 references.) (DDR)