Making Science Curriculum Matter: Wisdom for the Reform Road Ahead

By Barbara Brauner Berns and Judith Opert Sandler, EDC's Center for Science Education (editors)

Based on the legacy of the National Science Foundation’s Instructional Materials Development program, this resource—edited by CSE’s past director, Judith Opert Sandler, and current director, Barbara Berns—represents the collective experiences of half of the eight “dissemination and implementation” centers that were funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), beginning in 1997, to foster the understanding and use of exemplary mathematics and science instructional materials: the EDC K-12 Science Curriculum Dissemination center, housed in CSE; the IMPACT Center at the Center for the Enhancement of Science and Mathematics Education at Northeastern University in Boston; the K–8 Leadership and Assistance for Science Education Reform centers, based at the National Science Resources Center in Washington, D.C.; and the Science Curriculum Implementation Center at Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The NSF work was a cutting-edge experiment, and the centers were essentially “national truth seekers.” The idea was both to figure out how best to assist schools, districts, and states in using exemplary standards-based instructional materials (whether the materials were funded by the NSF or not) and to glean lessons from that work that might benefit the field.

Chapters include:

  • Putting Curriculum at the Center of Science Education Reform
  • Selecting Curriculum Materials: A Critical Step in Science Program Design, by Joseph A Taylor, BSCS
  • Professional Development for Curriculum Awareness, Adoption, and Implementation, by Nancy M. Landes, BSCS
  • The Role of Assessments and Accountability, by Sally Goetz Shuler, Judi Backman, and Steve Olson, NSRC
  • Lessons Learned from Evaluation, by Katrina Laguarda, Policy Studies Associates, Inc.
  • Using the Centers’ Work to Improve Science Education: Some Practical Advice

Contact Info: Barbara Berns (1-800-225-4276 x2562)

Published by: Corwin Press Order Info

Price: $25.95
ISBN: 9781412967235
(136 pp.) Paperback

Price: $56.95
ISBN: 9781412967228
(136 pp.) Hardcover