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Achieving the goal of a scientifically literate society greatly depends on teachers. This study assesses preservice elementary teachers' conceptual understanding of scientific literacy. Study participants include 20 preservice elementary teachers registered in an advanced science methods course at a midsize university in the United States. A qualitative interview design with a semistructured interview format was used. The results of this study showed that preservice elementary teachers' scientific literacy and knowledge of the nature of science required improvement to comply with science education reforms; however, they showed adequate understanding of the relationship among science, technology, and society. • Preservice elementary teachers hold misconceptions of scientific literacy. • Promoting scientific literacy through argumentation discourse in science. • Including explicit nature of science courses in teacher education programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]