This multiple case study examined how three urban science teachers used curriculum materials designed educatively. Educative curriculum materials have been suggested as one way to support science teacher learning, particularly around new innovations and new pedagogies and to support teachers in evaluating and modifying materials to meet the needs of their students (Davis & Krajcik, 2005). While not a substitute for professional development, educative curriculum materials may provide an opportunity to support teachers' enactment and learning in the classroom context (Davis & Krajcik, 2005; Remillard, 2005; Schneider & Krajcik, 2002). However, little work has examined how science teachers interact with written curriculum materials to design classroom instruction.

Grounded in sociocultural analysis, this study takes the theoretical stance that teachers and curriculum materials are engaged in a dynamic and participatory relationship from which the planned and enacted curriculum emerges (Remillard, 2005). Teaching is therefore a design activity where teachers rely on their personal resources and the curricular resources to construct and shape their students' learning experiences (Brown, 2002).

Specifically this study examines how teacher beliefs influence their reading and use of curriculum and how educative features in the written curriculum inform teachers' pedagogical decisions. Data sources included classroom observation and video, teacher interviews, and classroom artifacts. To make sense how teachers' make curricular decisions, video were analyzed using Brown's (2002) Pedagogical Design for Enactment Framework. These coded units were examined in light of the teacher interviews, classroom notes and artifacts to examine how teachers' beliefs influenced these decisions. Data sources were then reexamined for evidence of teachers' use of specific educative features.

My analyses revealed that teachers' beliefs about curriculum influenced the degree to which teachers relied on their own personal resources or the curricular resources in designing the taught curriculum. Teacher experience was also found to influence the degree to which teachers relied on their personal resources. Implications for teacher learning, professional development and curriculum development are discussed.