Seeds of Science | Science and Literacy Team

Bringing inquiry science and literacy learning together.

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Jacqueline Barber is Co-Principal Investigator of the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading program. She serves as Associate Director of Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS), and also directs the LHS Center for Curriculum Innovation and the Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS) Program. She has spent the past 25 years involved in K–12 science and mathematics education, primarily in curriculum and professional development. Current research interests include parent involvement and parent education. She has led a wide variety of programs including those that have led to award-winning products and sustained implementation activity. Ms. Barber has a background in scientific research.

	Dr. P. David Pearson is Dean of the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley and a faculty member in the Language and Literacy program. Current research focuses on reading instruction and reading assessment policies and practices at all levels—local, state, and national. Prior to coming to Berkeley in 2001, he was the John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Education in the College of Education at Michigan State, and Co-Director of the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA).
Earlier, he was Dean of the College of Education, Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Reading, and Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Illinois. He has served the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English in many leadership capacities. Dr. Pearson has also served on the boards of many educational research journals, developed state tests, and has extensive expertise in literacy assessment. He has written and co-edited numerous books and articles about research and practice. He was also co-investigator for the National Academy of Education’s initiative on new visions of assessment in literacy and mathematics, 1995-1996.

	Ashley Chase is editor of the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading student books. She leads the development of the student books, from conception to editing to art specs, and has authored several of the books. Ms. Chase has almost two decades of experience in writing and editing a diverse range of materials, from children’s fiction to museum exhibit text to grammar textbooks. She was formerly the lead editor of California Chronicles, a history magazine for 4th-8th graders published by Cobblestone. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Yale University.


	Josiah "Josey" Baker is a science curriculum developer on the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading program. He has helped develop units at every grade band, and has authored numerous Seeds/Roots student books. Additionally, Josey is a member of the After School Kidz Science (ASKS) development team. Prior to his work at the Lawrence Hall of Science, Josey attended Hampshire College where he focused on science education. Josey has worked with students of all ages, and taught in a variety of contexts.

Lynn Barakos is the lead author on the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading unit Designing Mixtures and a contributor to assessment materials on a number of units. Ms. Barakos is a Professional Development Specialist working in several programs at the Lawrence Hall of Science. She has taught and designed chemistry programs for pre-school to high school, developed teacher education programs, and consulted on standards-based, science education reform. Barakos has a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of California, Berkeley and a secondary single-subject credential in life sciences from St. Mary’s College.

Kevin Beals is a curriculum specialist/professional developer and teacher for GEMS. His specialty is generating and implementing creative ideas to make learning engaging. He is author of a number of Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading student books, GEMS curriculum guides, science toy kits, and primary author of the GEMS Curriculum Sequence, Space Science for Grades 3-5. He has taught science since 1981, led teacher workshops since 1990, and is the primary designer and teacher of the University of California, Berkeley course, Communicating Science. He has also written and recorded two albums of science education songs with the band The Bungee Jumpin' Cows.

	Alison Billman is literacy research specialist for the Seeds/Roots development team. A former first grade teacher with fourteen years of classroom experience, she earned her Ph.D. in 2008 in Educational Psychology at Michigan State University where she worked with Nell Duke and also collaborated on projects with P. David Pearson and Gina Cervetti. Her research interests focus on language and literacy development across the curriculum, particularly in the primary grades. She also has expertise in instruction and assessment of primary grade children's informational text comprehension. Alison is providing leadership for the research and development of the planned Seeds/Roots curriculum for kindergarten and first grade.

	Jill Castek is a trained reading specialist with a decade of experience working with students in grades K-12. Jill earned her Ph.D in 2008 at the University of Connecticut in the area of Cognition and Instruction. As a post-doc, she supports research efforts in literacy and works on the development of the integrated science-literacy guides as well as the strategy guides. She regularly presents at national and international literacy conferences and publishes in both reading and library media journals.

	Lincoln Bergman is the lead editor for the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading unit development team and has also contributed extensively to development of the student readers, including authoring a number of books. Mr. Bergman is Associate Director and Principal Editor of GEMS and as such has coordinated the collaborative origination, authoring, development, field testing, editorial, design, and publication process for more than 80 curriculum units and pedagogical handbooks over the past 20 years. He has extensive background in writing, editing, printing, and book publication, as well as in radio journalism and other media narration and production. He has written and published many poems for young people on science and mathematics topics.

Marco Bravo is a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education. Dr. Bravo serves as the English Language Development specialist for the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading project. His current research agenda concerns the development of academic language among English Language Learners, bilingualism, and science as a context for the development of English proficiency. Dr. Bravo completed his doctoral work in Language and Literacy at the University of California, Berkeley, where he served as a researcher for the Science Instruction for All project under Dr. Eugene E. Garcia.

	Dr. Gina Cervetti worked with David Pearson at the University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education, and is now a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Dr. Cervetti completed her doctoral work in Educational Psychology at Michigan State University, where she was a researcher for the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA). She has served as a literacy specialist, project coordinator, and researcher for Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading. Her current research agenda concerns the role of text in learning science and the potential of science-literacy integration to support students’ development of academic literacy.

Catherine Halversen is the primary author for the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading unit Shoreline Science. She serves as Co-Director of the Marine Activities, Resources & Education (MARE) program, a nationally recognized, whole-school K–8 marine science immersion program from LHS. She is the main developer for MARE’s eight volume inquiry-based marine science curricula and has co-written three marine science teacher’s guides for GEMS (On Sandy Shores, Only One Ocean and Ocean Currents). Ms. Halversen has worked extensively on developing and implementing programs which promote science inquiry integrated with literacy skills. Ms. Halversen serves as the primary course instructor and leader for the NSF-funded California Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence college course, Communicating Ocean Sciences. Ms. Halversen is a former high school science teacher,and holds an MA in Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Elfrieda (Freddy) H. Hiebert, Ph.D., leads the development of the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading readers, and is currently Visiting Research Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Hiebert received the Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has worked in the field of early reading acquisition for 35 years, first as a teacher's aide and teacher of primary-level students in central California and, next, as a teacher educator and researcher at the Universities of Kentucky, Colorado-Boulder, and, most recently, Michigan. Professor Hiebert has published more than 100 research articles and chapters on how instructional and assessment practices influence literacy acquisition, especially among low-income children. At the present time, she has research grants to investigate the difficulty of current beginning reading textbooks and to design curricula and texts for English Language Learners. Read more about Professor Hiebert and her work on her web site.

Kimi Hosoume is the primary author for the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading unit Soil Habitats, and has co-authored a number of GEMS and PEACHES guides. For over 28 years, Ms. Hosoume has directed projects involving professional development and curriculum development for preschool through eighth grade classroom teachers. Currently, she is a curriculum developer for the Full Option Science Systems (FOSS) program. Hosoume has a Bachelor of Arts in Biology, and both an Elementary and Secondary Science Teaching Credential from the University of California, Berkeley.

	Suzanna Loper is a curriculum developer and researcher who leads the science curriculum team. She is a former 6th grade science teacher and earned her Ph.D in Education in Math, Science and Technology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Trudihope Schlomowitz is production manager for Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading, with responsibility for scheduling the work of authors, managing the development team's document layout and editorial work, as well as coordinating all of those activities with the program publisher, Delta Education.

Elizabeth Shafer is a curriculum developer for the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading literacy team and has done extensive work on the Literacy Investigations units as well as the Weather and Water, Models of Matter, and Acquatic Ecosystems units. Ms. Shafer is a graduate of Yale University and holds an MA in Education from the University of California, Berkeley. She taught 2nd and 3rd grades for a number of years in Oakland, California.

Craig Strang is Associate Director of Lawrence Hall of Science and leads the Teacher & Leadership Programs Division. He is Director of numerous programs, including California Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence and MARE: Marine Activities, Resources & Education, a K-8 professional development/curriculum development program that works with whole schools to increase learning and language acquisition for English Language Learners. Mr. Strang received his B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Carrie Strohl is a curriculum author on the literacy team. She leads development of the strategy guides. A graduate of Marquette University and with an MA from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Ms. Strohl further brings to the program many years' experience as a teacher in Milwaukee public schools.

Jennifer Tilson is a literacy developer for Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading. She is a former first and second grade teacher and holds a California teaching credential, and earned an M.A. in language, literacy, and culture from the University of California, Berkeley. Jen is one of the key literacy authors for the program and has been involved in the planning and writing of literacy components of virtually all of the units.

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