NSTA to Provide ‘Anchors’ to Winnow Topics

Working with science standards reflects new direction for group.

An influential science teachers’ group is launching a project to help educators identify the most crucial concepts in that subject, a move that comes as political and business leaders are calling for greater consistency in how science and mathematics are taught nationwide.

Officials of the National Science Teachers Association say their goal is to pinpoint “anchors,” or core ideas, that should be emphasized in the classroom, in teacher training, and on state tests.

The project represents something of a departure for the NSTA, which neither develops nor promotes curricula, according to Executive Director Gerald F. Wheeler. The new venture is not meant to take the association down that path, he said, but rather to create a resource for teachers and others attempting to organize science...