The editors advance ideas about science from UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology's Understanding Science project, which aims to introduce the complexity of actual scientific investigation at K-16 levels.
The book came out of the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science hosted at the University of Buffalo, where Clyde Herreid worked. Their website is now defunct as most of their case studies are available to download at the National Science Teaching Association, NSTA website, except for the teaching notes and the answer key, which require subscription for access.