Revisiting the Teacher-Curriculum Relationship: Planning and Enacting Storyline Science Curriculum to be Coherent From the Student Perspective

The release of the Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards marked a shift in the purpose of K-12 science education from students learning about science ideas to students figuring out natural phenomena. This reform shift requires that science curricula be designed to be “coherent from the student perspective,” where students perceive their science work as addressing their questions and problems. Substantial attention has been placed on the development of K-12 science curricula that support coherence for students. However, the design of these materials alone does not ensure that enactments will be coherent for students. Teachers need the capacity to design instruction from curriculum materials to support their students' purposeful sensemaking. Currently, there is no established model of how teachers interact with curricular materials to design coherent science instruction with students. To address this issue, we expand on past models of the teacher-curriculum participatory relationship to incorporate curricular materials designed to be coherent for students. We call our model the Teacher-Student-Storyline curriculum (T-S-S) relationship. In this conceptual article, we first establish the theoretical foundation for our model, drawing from cognitive theories on artifact mediation, educational research on curriculum use, and efforts in science education reform to enhance student coherence in curriculum and instruction. We then outline the components and interactions in our model, exemplifying them through vignettes of one teacher's participation in the T-S-S relationship. Finally, we discuss the implications of the T-S-S relationship for curriculum design and professional development.