The act of exemplary teaching requires the orchestration of subject matter knowledge and pedagogical knowledge with pedagogical content knowledge. If this last component is not sufficiently present, then we may be quite efficient in presenting students with rote information. If this last component is sufficiently present (and carried out well), then students are afforded the opportunity to construct meaning from symbols and images in a manner that allows them to "see" (like a connoisseur) and sort out the underlying relationships that represent the "character of the subject." As science educators strive to find the proper balance, reform efforts encourage increased collaboration between subject matter specialists and Colleges of Education. This paper points to a fundamental tension that typically exists between Colleges of Education and Arts and Sciences, and suggests that each college has historically different ontological, epistemological, and methodological commitments (different paradigms). Such community differences inherent among content-specific disciplines and between colleges, which are deeply entrenched in historical paradigm commitments, reveal the oversimplification of science teacher education reform mandates that stress true interdisciplinary (and transdisciplinary) collaboration. (Contains 39 references.) (Author)