Author: Page Keeley
PAGE KEELEY is an internationally known leader in science education. She is the developer and primary author of the award-winning Uncovering Student Ideas in Science series and the Formative Assessment- Practical Strategies Linking Assessment, Instruction, and Learning series (the "FACTs books"). Her interest in teaching for conceptual understanding and understanding students’ thinking began in 1992 after reading the seminal article, Teaching for Conceptual Change- Confronting Children's Experience by Bruce Watson and Dick Konicek. Her very first assessment probe, The Mitten Problem, was based on that article. Her assessment probes and FACTs (formative assessment classroom techniques) are widely used by K-12 teachers, university professors, professional developers, and science specialists throughout the U.S. and internationally.
Page “retired” from the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA) where she was the Senior Science Program Director since 1996. Today she works as an independent consultant, speaker, and author providing professional development to school districts and organizations in the areas of science and STEM formative assessment, understanding student thinking, and teaching science for conceptual understanding..
As the Science Program Director at the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, she was the principal investigator and project director of 3 National Science Foundation-funded projects including the Northern New England Co-Mentoring Network (NNECN), PRISMS- Phenomena and Representations for Instruction of Science in Middle School, and Curriculum Topic Study- A Systematic Approach to Utilizing National Standards and Cognitive Research. In addition she developed and directed state MSP projects including Science Content, Conceptual Change, and Collaboration (SC4) and TIES K-12- Teachers Integrating Engineering into Science K-12 and two National Semi-Conductor Foundation grants, Linking Science, Inquiry, and Language Literacy (L-SILL) and Linking Science, Enginerring, and Language Literacy (L-SELL). She developed and directed the Maine Governor’s Academy for Science and Mathematics Education Leadership, which completed its fourth cohort group of Maine STEM teacher leaders, and is a replication of the National Academy for Science and Matheatics Education Leadership, of which she is a Fellow.
Page is a prolific author of twenty three national best-selling and award-winning books, including twelve books in the Uncovering Student Ideas in Science series, five books in the Curriculum Topic Study series, and four books in the Science and Mathematics Formative Assessment- Practical Strategies for Linking Assessment, Instruction, and Learning series. Several of her books have received pretigious awards in educational publishing. She has authored over 76 journal articles, including her monthly column on Promoting Learning Through Formative Assessment for the NSTA Science and Children Journal and contributed to several book chapters. The book, Teaching for Conceptual Understanding in Science is co-authored with her muse and mentor, Dr. Richard Konicek-Moran. She also develops formative assessment probes for McGraw-Hill's middle and elementary school Inspire Science program. She recently collaborated with Ed Walsh in Cornwall, England, Millgate Publishing, and the Association of Science Education (ASE) to publish a United Kingdom version of her work in Understanding Children’s Thinking. She is a frequent invited speaker at regional, national, and international conferences on the topic of diagnostic and formative assessment in science, understanding students’ thinking in science, and teaching for conceptual understanding.
Prior to joining the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance in 1996, Page taught middle and high school science for 15 years. At that time she was an active teacher leader at the state and national level, serving three terms as President of the Maine Science Teachers Association and NSTA District II Director. She received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Secondary Science Teaching in 1992, the Milken National Distinguished Educator Award in 1993, and the AT&T Maine Governor’s Fellow in 1994. Since leaving the classroom in 1996, her work in leadership and professional development has been nationally recognized. In 2008 she was elected the 63rd President of the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), the world's largest organization of K-12, university, and informal science educators. In 2009 she received the National Staff Development Council’s (now Learning Forward) Susan Loucks-Horsley Award for Leadership in Science and Mathematics Professional Development. In 2013 she received the Outstanding Leadership in Science Education award from the National Science Education Leadership Association (NSELA) and in 2018, The Distinguished Service to Science Education Award from NSTA. She has been an adjunct instructor at the University of Maine, was a Cohort 1 Fellow in the National Academy for Science and Mathematics Education Leadership, was a science literacy leader for the AAAS/Project 2061 Professional Development Program, and has served on several national advisory boards. She has a strong interest in global science education and has led science education delegations and STEM expeditions to South Africa (2009), China (2010), India (2012), Cuba (2014), Iceland (2017), Panama (2018), Costa Rica (2019), Galapagos (2021), Costa Rica (2022), and Iceland (2023). Page is currently finishing her term as Retiring President of the National Science Education Leadership Association (NSELA).
Prior to switching careers and entering the teaching profession through the alternative route, Page was a research assistant for immunogeneticist, Dr. Leonard Shultz, at the world renowned Jackson Laboratory of Mammalian Genetics in Bar Harbor, Maine where she assisted in Dr. Shultz’s research of severe combined immunodeficiency diseases (SCID) using mouse models.. She received her B.S. in Life Sciences/pre-veterinary studies from the University of New Hampshire and her M.Ed in Science Education from the University of Maine. In her spare time she enjoys travel, reading, photography, painting, fiber art, equestrian sports, exploring nature with four adorable grandchildren, dabbling in modernist cooking and culinary art, and sharing her recipes on her Maine Keeley's Kitchen Food Blog. A Maine resident for almost 40 years, Page and her husband are “retired” residents of Fort Myers, Florida and spend summers on Academy Cove at their 1832 house in the historic village of Wickford, Rhode Island.