Literature indicates that the "National Science Education Standards" ("NSES") teaching standards and inquiry-based teaching strategies for science are not uniformly incorporated into the elementary science methods (eSEM) courses across the U.S. and that field experiences might not provide appropriate models of the inquiry-based science pedagogy recommended by the "NSES". Therefore, as elementary preservice teachers (ePSTs) begin to form their beliefs about learning and teaching science through the eSEM course and science field experience, capturing their perceptions of their understanding about inquiry and inquiry-based science pedagogy can provide valuable information for the evaluation of the eSEM course and associated field experience in meeting the recommendations of the "NSES" for teaching science as inquiry. However, no research to date has specifically examined the ePSTs' perceptions regarding their understanding of inquiry and inquiry-based pedagogy to teach science after concurrently completing the traditional eSEM course and the science field experience, two avenues available for prospective elementary teachers to learn, observe, or formulate pedagogical strategies in science consistent with the "NSES" recommendations for inquiry-based instruction and learning in science. The purpose of this research was to discern whether and how the recommendations of the "NSES" to teach science through inquiry are integrated into the eSEM course, and to determine from ePSTs' perspectives their understanding about inquiry and inquiry-based pedagogy for teaching and learning science after concurrently completing an eSEM course and its associated science field experience. The findings from this research support the improvement of pedagogical experiences for ePSTs offered through the eSEM course and the associated science field experience. (Contains 1 table.)