The Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) was established in 1958 with 
the mission to improve the quality of biology education at all levels. Not long 
after the inception of the organization, our mission was expanded to include the 
improvement of science education, not just biology education. In 2000, we further 
articulated this mission to describe the work we would do in curriculum development, professional development, and research and evaluation.
In this book—a handbook for biology teachers—you will be exposed to some of 
our tradition and some of our future. The tradition comes from focusing on the quality of biology education. The future comes from approaching the quality of biology 
education from multiple perspectives—instructional materials, teacher development, 
student learning, controversial issues, classroom management, and inquiry teaching.
The Biology Teacher’s Handbook was first released in 1960 as an experimental volume. The first through third editions were released between 1963 and 1978. In the 
mideighties, the book was taken out of print. We are grateful to the National Science 
Teachers Association (NSTA) for having the foresight to understand the value of a 
handbook for practicing teachers. Because of NSTA, we are able to launch the next 
generation of this publication.
The world of the classroom is more complex than in 1958, when BSCS began its 
work. More than ever before, teachers have to attend to a greater range of discipline 
challenges, multiple native languages, an exploding volume of new content, and highstakes testing. In this handbook, we have done our best to acknowledge the challenging 
environment in which you work, while providing the scaffolding to help you be the 
kind of teacher who enables every student to learn as much as he or she is willing to.
BSCS is first and foremost a research and development organization. We do 
our best to translate research into practice. This handbook fully represents that philosophy; however, just because the pages are bound between a cover does not mean 
this is a finished product. At a curriculum study, we do our research, in part by 
listening to the practitioners in the field. As you use this handbook, do not hesitate 
to let us know what was useful, what was not useful, what you found missing, what 
you found redundant. Please go to handbook.bscsonline.org to make your comments 
and suggestions. We will address your suggestions in the next edition.