Curriculum for The Story of Science was created by Maria Garriott and Cora Teter, who have written history, language arts, and science curricula for the Talent Development programs at The Johns Hopkins University since 1995 and 1999, respectively. Both earned master's degrees in Professional Writing at Towson University. Garriott and Teter were part of a team that created curriculum to accompany Joy Hakim's A History of US and the best-selling PBS video series Freedom: A History of US!

The Talent Development programs were developed at The Johns Hopkins University by researchers, educators, and experienced curriculum writers in collaboration with middle- and high-school practitioners. The Talent Development Middle Grades and Talent Development High School models offer research-based organizational, curricular, and instructional strategies and intensive professional development to create respectful, caring, and motivating learning environments that challenge all students to realize their highest academic and human potential. For more than a decade, Talent Development has helped boost student achievement in American schools.

Teacher's Quest Guides include:

- Lesson overview (provides background information)

- Groundwork notes (activate prior knowledge)

- Directed reading (identifies the content to look for when reading to ensure comprehension)

- Class activities (classwide, cooperative, and individual activity options)

- Homework suggestions

- Curriculum links (extension and enrichment options) that focus on cross-disciplinary connections such as:

Art

History

Science

Language Arts

Multicultural

Math

To download a sample chapter, go to smithsonianbooks.com and choose curriculum from the Story of Science section.