High Marks for Transformative Teachers—Response

Abstract

I thank D'Avanzo for her comments, which reflect the leadership roles that she has played in improving science education at the college level, with a focus on ecology and the environment ([ 1 ][1]). It would be terrific if Science could provide an award for the best college science teachers as she suggests. However, we wanted to establish a prize that we could judge fairly without requiring site visits. We also sought a prize that would lead to publications in Science that effectively disseminate best practices. Given these constraints, a series of consultations with college educators led to the 2011 prize for inquiry-based laboratory modules. Through this prize, we hope to seize an opportunity that exists to redirect the substantial resources now being devoted to laboratories associated with college science courses in which the students follow a completely scripted recipe (“cookbook laboratories”), while also recognizing a set of outstanding college science educators. Unfortunately, unlike the rapid spread of best practice that occurs in scientific research, enormous special efforts are required to convince scientists to adopt or adapt outstanding tools for education that have been developed by colleagues at different institutions. It is our hope that Science 's vetting process and wide reach will help to drive a widespread rethinking of college science laboratories; we also believe that there is always great value in recognizing true excellence. 1. [↵][2]1. C. D'Avanzo , Frontiers Ecol. Environ. 1, 533 (2003). [OpenUrl][3] [1]: #ref-1 [2]: #xref-ref-1-1 View reference 1 in text [3]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DFrontiers%2BEcol.%2BEnviron.%26rft.volume%253D1%26rft.spage%253D533%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx