The Story Behind the Science website is the result of multiple projects coming together with one central purpose: to provide deeply researched, engaging stories of major science topics that explicitly highlight how science works, how scientists think, and the often messy process that leads to the development of scientific knowledge.

The How Science Works project has produced 30 short stories for use in post-secondary astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, and physics courses (6 short stories in each of these five disciplines). These short stories are linked to important science ideas commonly taught in these courses, and they draw students’ attention to important nature of science issues entangled in the development of those ideas. Accompanying support materials help faculty seamlessly implement these historical and contemporary science short stories alongside the fundamental science ideas taught in these subjects. Research regarding the efficacy of the project stories appears below.