Enhanced Science Helper provides several ways of "getting to" a resource or set of resources. Initially, when teachers think about finding a particular lesson, they usually think of searching by Keyword, such as "I want to find a lesson on Frogs." If they consider additional search criteria, they consider Grade Level, or Subject: "I want a lesson for 3rd Grade on Biology."

However, Enhanced Science Helper provides the user with far more powerful search criteria, which can help teachers find sets of lessons based on a unified theme, or sets of resources which integrate Science and Social Science. Content and ProcessThemes are unifying principles that pervade all scientific disciplines. They help us see relationships between topics in the sciences. For example, when studying Systems, we learn that a system is an organized group of related objects or components that form a whole. It follows that changing one part of a system changes another. Sometimes changes may involve different states or processes, and we are afforded the opportunity to view complex relationships firsthand.

Dr. Mary Budd Rowe always said that Content Themes and Process Themes were the "big picture" ideas that were so important in understanding science. It was her hope, and ours, that Enhanced Science Helper will give educators the ability to get first hand experience with the "pillars" that support the "big picture" ideas.