Science Curriculum Topic Study: Bridging the Gap Between Standards and Practice

"It is by far the best thing I have seen on how to effectively use the standards."
From the Foreword by Harold Pratt, Former President
National Science Teachers Association (2001-2002)

"Without question, this book will be of great value to the profession of science teaching. Given today′s educational landscape of standards and high-stakes testing, curriculum topic study is an essential piece of the puzzle."
Cary Sneider, Vice President for Educator Programs
Museum of Science, Boston

Discover the "missing link" between science standards, teacher practice, and improved student achievement!

Becoming an accomplished science teacher not only requires a thorough understanding of science content, but also a familiarity with science standards and research on student learning. However, a comprehensive strategy for translating standards and research into instructional, practice has been lacking since the advent of standards-based education reform.

Science Curriculum Topic Study provides a systematic professional development strategy that links science standards and research to curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Developed by author Page Keeley of the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, the NSF-funded Curriculum Topic Study (CTS), process can help educators align curriculum, instruction, and assessment with the specific, research-based ideas and skills required in local, state, and national standards.

The CTS process will help teachers:

• Improve their understanding of science content
• Clarify a hierarchy of content and skills in a learning goal from state or local standards
• Define formative and summative assessment goals and strategies
• Learn to recognize and address learning difficulties
• Increase opportunities for students of all backgrounds to achieve science literacy
• Design or utilize instructional materials effectively

Containing 147 separate curriculum topic study guides arranged in eleven categories that represent the major domains of science, this book provides the tools to both positively impact student learning and develop the knowledge and skills that distinguish expert science teachers from novices.

Page is a prolific author of over twenty national best-selling and award-winning books, including twelve books in the Uncovering Student Ideas in Science series, four books in the first edition Curriculum Topic Study series, and four books in the Science and Mathematics Formative Assessment- Practical Strategies for Linking Assessment, Instruction, and Learning series. Several of her books have received prestigious awards in educational publishing.  She has authored numerous journal articles and contributed to several book chapters. She is a frequent invited speaker at regional, national, and international conferences on the topic of formative assessment in science, understanding students’ (and teachers’) thinking, and teaching for conceptual understanding.

Prior to leaving the classroom to work at the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance in 1996, Page taught middle and high school science for 15 years. At that time she was an active teacher leader at the state and national level, serving two terms as President of the Maine Science Teachers Association and NSTA District II Director 1995-1998 and NSTA Executive Board member (prior to the Board and Council restructuring in 1997). She received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Secondary Science Teaching in 1992 and the Milken National Distinguished Educator Award in 1993.

Since leaving the classroom in 1996, her work in leadership and professional development has been nationally recognized.  In 2008 she was elected the 63rd President of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the world′s largest organization of K-12, university, and informal science educators. In 2009 she received the National Staff Development Council’s (now Learning Forward) . In 2013 she received the Outstanding Leadership in Science Education award from the National Science Education Leadership Association (NSELA) and in 2018, The Distinguished Service to Science Education Award from NSTA.  She has served as an adjunct instructor at the University of Maine, was a Cohort 1 Fellow in the National Academy for Science and Mathematics Education Leadership, was a science literacy leader for the AAAS/Project 2061 Professional Development Program, and served on several national advisory boards. She has a strong interest in global science education and has led science/STEM education delegations to South Africa (2009), China (2010), India (2012), Cuba (2014), Iceland (2017), Panama (2018), and Costa Rica (2019).

Prior to entering the teaching profession, Page was a research assistant for immunogeneticist, Dr. Leonard Shultz, at the Jackson Laboratory of Mammalian Genetics in Bar Harbor, Maine. She received her B.S. in Life Sciences/pre-veterinary studies from the University of New Hampshire and her Masters degree in Science Education from the University of Maine. In her spare time she enjoys travel, reading, photography, fiber art, and dabbles in modernist cooking and culinary art. A Maine resident for almost 40 years, Page and her husband currently reside in Fort Myers, FL and Wickford, RI. Page can be contacted at pagekeeley@gmail.com or through her web site at www.uncoveringstudentideas.org