Educators who plan science lessons, who develop science curricula, or who evaluate learning, often wonder about students' preconceptions of the material to be taught. Until now, attention has mainly focused on traditional science content. However, content related to the nature of science (for example, science's epistemology and its social context) is receiving increased attention because of interest in teaching science through a science-technology-society (STS) approach or teaching science in concert with the history and philosophy of science. What are high school students' preconceptions concerning the epistemology and sociology of science? This question is addressed in two related articles that stem from the same research study. This first article describes the development of a new research instrument that monitors students' views on a broad range of STS topics, Views on Science-Technology-Society (VOSTS). The second article reports on how this instrument illuminates high school students' views on several topics associated with the epistemology of science.