A consistent education about the theory, history, and philosophy of science to graduate students of ecology could increase the quality of research in this field. Understanding scientific practice as an integrated process from hypothesis selection through statistical analysis is necessary but insufficient. In this paper we aim to discuss the importance of the epistemology and the history of science in training ecologists and to encourage a search for a deeper understanding of discussions in this area. To this end we bring arguments favoring the integration of epistemology and history of science in formal ecology education. We also discuss the implications of choosing different statistical approaches and of selecting an appropriate conceptual framework for ecology education. Finally, we present alternative approaches for including these issues in graduate education in ecology.