Although teachers play central roles in education, traditionally, teachers have not had a major voice in educational change. The teacher is often viewed as a passive receiver of a change product or as a reactor to change. In more recent literature, however, more attention has been given to the personal nature of change and the relations between teachers' personal knowledge schemes and change. One example of paradigmatic change is illustrated by Wisconsin's family and consumer initiative to move toward the use of a critical science curriculum perspective. A study examined the nature of the curriculum change as experienced by the 120 family and consumer education teachers involved in the project. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 teachers. The major finding of the study was that, for these 10 family and consumer education teachers, curriculum change was an experience of encountering discontinuous ways of knowing. The study also showed that, in practice, teachers often based content upon a technical view of home economics. Teachers also conceptualized curriculum change in different ways. They reported an emotional as well as intellectual experience in the change process and were more positive toward change when there was more group support for the effort. Recommendations for practice included the following: (1) schools should provide systematic opportunities for sustained change; (2) structures should be created within schools that support intellectual communities; (3) teacher educators need to understand that overreliance on "canned" curriculum materials may serve to increase the paradox that teachers face between the role of the teacher and the role of curriculum developer; and (4) teacher educators need to help preservice teachers understand that curriculum development and change is more than technical concepts and procedures. (Contains 27 references.) (KC)