Curriculum & Instructional Materials
Our Approach
Since its founding in 1958, Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), has been a pioneer in designing and producing high-quality science instructional materials. PSSC Physics and Elementary Science Study, two of EDC’s earlier programs, set the standard for CSE’s continuing work.
Over the past decades, we have produced innovative inquiry-based instructional materials for preK–12 students and for after-school programs. Teams of science educators, teachers, and scientists develop our curricula, and we subject all curricula to extensive pilot- and field-testing in classrooms across the country.
Our staff’s in-depth understanding of current educational and scientific research shapes our approach to curriculum development. Cutting-edge information about how students learn and teachers teach, instructional strategies that best guide learning, and the nature and content of science undergirds our materials.
All of our instructional programs reflect the following ideas about students and their learning:
- All learners bring a wide variety of experiences, knowledge, understanding, interests, and questions to the classroom.
- Learners construct their knowledge by building on or modifying the understandings they already have in place.
- Learners need a variety of educational experiences. Each experience needs to afford opportunities to ask and answer meaningful, thoughtful questions they have about themselves and their world.
Instruction methods differ based on student developmental levels. However, several common features define our approach to inquiry-based instruction:
- A focus on depth of understanding, rather than breadth of information.
- Academically rigorous content that is framed in contexts that are relevant to students’ lives.
- A focus on scientific thinking and reasoning through a careful balance of direct experience with phenomena, use of secondary resources, discourse, and writing.
- Close attention to the needs of a diverse student body.
- The use of formative assessment to guide instruction and learning.
CSE’s curricula content reflects our staff’s awareness that knowledge of science has many facets. To attain science literacy, students must master the concepts of the subject matter and understand the nature of scientific inquiry. They must also gain insight into the many ways in which scientific knowledge affects them and their world. Thus, all of our curricula consider the eight areas of the National Science Education Standards, carefully adapted to the needs and interests of the students for whom they are written.
Instructional materials development at CSE is not only about students and their learning; it is also about teachers and their professional development. Our professional development programs support teachers in guiding students through the investigations, readings, and discussions that form the cores of our curricula. Our materials acknowledge the professionalism of teachers by providing strategies for them to enhance their own skills and knowledge in science teaching and learning.
