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“I came to UGA to do a Ph.D. because this book didn't exist when I needed it,” said Wheeler-Toppen.

A University of Georgia education instructor has published a book to help educators teach science content while simultaneously improving their students’ reading abilities through clearly outlined, inquiry-based lessons.

Jodi Wheeler-Toppen, a part-time instructor in the department of mathematics and science education at UGA’s Gwinnett campus, aims to help middle and high school students develop as science readers with Once Upon a Life Science Book: 12 Interdisciplinary Activities to Create Confident Readers (NSTA Press).

“I came to UGA to do a Ph.D. because this book didn’t exist when I needed it,” said Wheeler-Toppen. “I was teaching biology at a high school in North Carolina and struggling because I didn’t have the knowledge or resources that I needed to work with classes full of students who didn’t read well. Much of this book draws from what I learned in my dissertation and in the work I’ve done since graduating and working as a part-time instructor at UGA.”

Using a three-phase learning cycle to introduce basic life science concepts, the book is a tool for teachers covering a variety of topics including cell cycles, genetics, and food chains. Students first explore a concept through participating in a specific activity. Next, they are introduced to related vocabulary and general principles. In the final phase they apply this knowledge to a new situation.

Wheeler-Toppen received her Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in science education in 2006 and continues to do research on improving reading in science.