Rodger Bybee

Rodger W. Bybee is chair of the Science Forum and Science Expert Group, and Questionnaire Panel Consultant for PISA 2006. Until 2007, Dr. Bybee was executive director of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS), a nonprofit organization in Colorado Springs, Colorado that develops curriculum materials, provides professional development for the science education community, and conducts research and evaluation on curriculum reform. Prior to joining BSCS, he was executive director of the National Research Council's Center for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Education (CSMEE), in Washington, D.C. Between 1985 and 1995, he participated in the development of the National Science Education Standards, and in 1992–1995 he chaired the content working group of that National Research Council project.

At BSCS, Bybee was principal investigator for four National Science Foundation (NSF) programs: an elementary school program entitled Science for Life and Living: Integrating Science, Technology, and Health, a middle school program entitled Middle School Science & Technology, a high school biology program entitled BSCS Biology: A Human Approach, and a college program entitled Biological Perspectives. His work at BSCS also included serving as principal investigator for programs to develop curriculum frameworks for teaching about the history and nature of science and technology for biology education at high schools, community colleges, and four-year colleges.

From 1972 to 1985, Bybee was professor of education at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. He has been active in education for more than forty years, having taught science at the elementary, secondary, and college levels.

Bybee serves on a number of advisory boards and committees including those for The National Academies, The U.S. Department of Education, The National Science Foundation, and The American Institute of Biological Sciences. He currently chairs the National Forum for the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development for the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment in Science. In addition he is an advisor to the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study video projects.

Bybee has written widely, publishing in both education and psychology. He is co-author of a leading textbook titled Teaching Secondary School Science: Strategies for Developing Scientific Literacy. His recent books include Achieving Scientific Literacy: From Purposes to Practices and Learning Science and the Science of Learning.

Over the years, Bybee has received awards as a Leader of American Education and an Outstanding Educator in America and in 1979 was Outstanding Science Educator of the Year. In 1989 he was recognized as one of the 100 outstanding alumni in the history of the University of Northern Colorado. In April 1998, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) presented Bybee with the NSTA's Distinguished Service to Science Education Award. In 2001, The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) presented him with the first AIBS Education Award. In 2007, he received the Robert H. Carleton Award, NSTA's highest honor, for national leadership in science education.