Relationships between students' (N=169) rating of instruction and students' attitudes about inquiry and traditional teaching in elementary science classes were investigated. Since one of the goals of their methods class was to develop or adopt teaching styles on their own, it was hypothesized that the congruence of students' adopted teaching style with that of their elementary science methods instructor would possibly influence their rating of instruction. Two instruments were used in the study: a 21-item course/instructor evaluation form (general course attitude, instructor, course content, interest/attention) and a 20-item instrument relating to inquiry/traditional science teaching based on the "Science Teacher Ideological Preference Scale" (STIPS). Correlations between students' and instructors' beliefs were used to divide students into three groups where instructor/student beliefs were: (1) highly similar; (2) similar; and (3) dissimilar. Results from one-way analyses of variance indicated significant differences related to general course attitude, method of instruction, and overall rating, with no significant differences related to course content, interest/attention, or instructor. Results suggest that students' beliefs about teaching science in elementary school may influence their ratings of course/instruction in some instances but not others. (Author/JN)