David Blades is on a mission to improve science education in Canada. His teaching is a model for all teachers of teachers, and his educational leadership, both at the University of Victoria and across Canada, has significantly advanced science education. He brings a hands-on approach through his Explore-Discuss-Understand (EDU) model, which is how scientists actually make discoveries and share them with their colleagues. Yet, David goes a step further, asking future teachers to reflect on the relevance and ethics of their lessons. As one colleague states, “David brings extraordinary levels of commitment, passion, thoughtfulness and creativity to his educational endeavours.”

David views science literacy as essential for effective citizenship, and supports this view through the professional development of science teachers. Participating in an episode of CBC’s The Current, David took the opportunity to broadcast his perspective that science education needs national standards and community-focused teaching. When asked by Canadian astronaut Chris Hatfield what would happen if we didn’t teach Canadian students to think critically, David argued: “Our whole country is at stake. I think science is one of the most important subjects in the school curriculum because it can and should encourage critical thinking… because it invites citizens to ask questions about the natural world they see but also to ask questions generally. So I see a natural pairing with science and social sciences. We need more people to understand what science can do and what science can’t do, as well—the limits of science.”

An inspiring and passionate champion of teaching and learning, Andrea Buchholz is an outstanding teacher, mentor and leader in undergraduate Nutrition education. Andrea is known at Guelph and throughout Canada for her indomitable enthusiasm and commitment to building strong Nutrition courses and curricula. Renowned for her success in teaching large classes, she has also created a very popular interdisciplinary first-year seminar on Globesity, which explores worldwide problems with obesity. She designed Canada’s first Applied Clinical Skills course in Nutrition, and led the reform of Guelph’s Applied Human Nutrition program, with an emphasis on clear learning outcomes, which has become a model across the country.

As academic leader and co-designer of enLITE, Guelph’s Educational Leadership in Teaching Excellence program, Andrea has made consequential contributions to continued excellence and scholarship in teaching. Her creative approach to teaching, prized by her students, has already earned her an OCUFA Award, Ontario’s highest recognition of teaching excellence.

Andrea’s teaching philosophy is inspired by improvisational theatre, her hobby, in which the audience is part of the action. Therefore, all her students are motivated to be authentic partners in their own learning and to develop a sense of belonging—in the classroom, in the clinic, in the profession.

Her colleagues admire Andrea’s selflessness and influence; her students are no less enthusiastic: “Dr. B is the bomb.com!”

Inspiring students to think green is just one of chemistry professor Andrew Dicks’s teaching passions, as is mentoring high school students for the International Chemistry Olympiad. His teaching awards are numerous, from the University of Toronto’s Presidents Teaching Award, to the Chemical Institute of Canada National Award for Chemical Education, to the OCUFA Teaching Award. This is not surprising given his dedication to improving student learning of chemistry, demonstrated by his numerous articles on the teaching of chemistry. Many of these articles have been co-authored with undergraduate students, and his authorship of two textbooks on green chemistry has transformed the teaching of organic chemistry. Many of the experiments he has developed with his student co-authors have been adopted by faculty at other institutions and have been cited as superb examples of green chemistry experiments. For example, in December each year, he relates science to Christmas and discusses the chemistry of ginger cookies, pine trees, hand warmers, Christmas crackers, and turkey.

Caring for students is at the core of Professor Dicks’s teaching. As one former student said, “Andy’s strength in teaching comes from his connections with the people he teaches. He is adored by the students he teaches; he treats all of his students with the utmost respect and pleasantry.”

For Allyson Jule, teaching is a deep vocational calling and the classroom is a temporary space made sacred by meaningful encounter and respectful challenge. An outstanding leader, scholar, and teacher of teachers, she believes that all students seek the same things: to be seen, to be understood, and to be cared for. She teaches far beyond the subject matter, gracefully modelling her Christian faith by honouring the valuable lessons that accrue from the triumphs and heartbreaks that comprise her students’ stories. The result is what one student described as “the most genuine learning I have ever had.”

Students who accompany Allyson on her educational practicums to Cameroon recall her meticulous planning, the grace with which she teaches in makeshift, candlelit classrooms, and the myriad ways she gleans insight from every moment.

A culture changer, Allyson challenges and interrogates the prevalent attitudes to sexuality and gender in religious communities. She developed and created both the Gender Studies minor at Trinity Western and Gender in Education, the only undergraduate course of its kind in Canada. The Gender Studies Institute that she also co-founded and co-directs has won national recognition. In the community, she coordinates the Gender Cafés at Trinity Western University that has attracted hundreds of participants from the Langley area in the Fraser Valley who are eager to join the consequential discussions. As President-Elect of Women’s and Gender Studies et Recherches Féministes (WGSRF), she proclaims with proud conviction that faith and feminism are not necessarily antagonistic.

Allyson Jule is a teacher of extraordinary humanity and humility, beloved by students, admired by colleagues, respected in her discipline.

Maja Krzic has a strong passion for Soil Science and bringing her students into the field. Because she understands what needs to be changed in soil education and cares about that change, she has almost single-handedly revitalized the study of Soil Science at UBC. Maja states, “It is my responsibility not to just teach basic concepts of Soil Science but to also spark students’ interest in exploring this often overlooked but important natural resource.”

Maja believes that one of most important roles of a teacher is to stimulate students’ desire to learn, encouraging them to become active participants in the learning process through active collaboration with farm managers, community gardeners, environmental consultants, and government scientists, or through hands-on activities involving soil sampling, analysis, and interpretation.

The Virtual Soil Science Learning Resources (VSSLR) Consortium, which she launched in 2004, is now used by 24 Canadian universities and 13 universities internationally across four continents. Several of the VSSLR’s 15 web-based educational tools for distance education courses have received awards for innovation and excellence. An associate editor for the Natural Science Education Journal, she is a role model who has had an extraordinary impact on her discipline, her students, and her colleagues.

Maja has won 13 teaching awards since 2002, including the UBC Killam teaching prize and most recently the mentoring award by the Association for Women Soil Scientists, Soil Science Society of America.

Ken MacMillan challenges the notion that history teachers “teach one damn fact after another.” Instead, he models how teaching is a public act shared among teachers and students. As an example, his book Stories of True Crime in Tudor and Stuart England was produced in collaboration with two students as a teaching resource for Ken’s course (Crime and Criminal Justice in England) and is widely available for the use of other instructors and students as well.

Ken demonstrates the fundamental value of studying History. His teaching focusses on how to identify an issue, cut to the essence of an argument, weigh evidence, find relevance, and communicate a reasoned conclusion. For Ken’s students, this is an engaging experience as he finds creative ways to achieve these outcomes. Thousands of students are indebted to Ken for The History Student’s Handbook: A Short Guide to Writing History Essays. This freely-available resource, the department’s official writing guide for more than a decade, has directly improved students’ writing skills and has been adopted by dozens of post-secondary and secondary institutions across North America.

Ken’s actions and activities promote dialogue, innovation, and relevance in the modern Canadian university. He engages colleagues in thinking about their teaching in the same process of critical reflection, weighing of evidence, meaning-making, and reasoned decision-making. These same colleagues value the integrity with which Ken facilitates their thinking. As a teaching mentor he has opened his classroom for observation by colleagues, advocating that teaching is a public and shared act.

Veronika Mogyorody is an educational space-maker. She is an exceptional teacher of architecture who sees the effect of the built environment on student learning. A trailblazer in bringing the best ideas from architecture into the university, she is recognized as the Architectural Academic Advisor for the University of Windsor. Building on her profound commitment to making university environments enticing for teachers and functional for students, she has been a leader in imagining learning spaces for seven new campus buildings. Her concept of active learning classrooms is instrumental in supporting collaboration and interaction and thus promotes student engagement in the classroom. This classroom design has influenced how learning spaces are built at universities across the country.

Veronika also created the only international joint visual arts and architecture program in the world, one which is celebrated as innovative and unique. This program’s interdisciplinary, international, and cross-institutional character results in students working across cultures, negotiating assumptions and value systems that are often invisible in more traditional programs. Students learn to think and design as a political act, an aesthetic act, an environmental act, and as a form of social agency. Veronika’s infectious excitement for gaining new understandings of how built environments connect people and sustain society leaves a deep impression on her students and shapes their professional lives as architects.

Martin Schreiber’s life mission is preparing competent and caring physicians who are ready to meet the health care needs of society. In pursuing this goal, he has become an exceptional medical educator and formidable leader in medical education. Students find his ability to make complex topics relevant almost magical, as they are challenged to learn both the science and the art of medicine. Martin demands rigor as students develop the knowledge and skills required of a successful physician and also shows the importance of empathy, communication, collaboration, and professionalism.

His teaching approach asks students to learn from the clinical practice he models at the bedside of patients and then to solidify that bedside learning through further study in the classroom. One physician credits her ability to save the life of a patient with lessons learned from Martin. As a change agent in medical education, he is firmly committed to ensuring the active engagement of students in the evaluation of educational programs and practices. He is renowned in local, national, and international communities, and colleagues see him as a role model and inspiration. With 40 teaching awards to his credit, he is one of the most celebrated teachers in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine.

“The goal of my teaching is to make science as fascinating to my students as it is to me. Every day I try to meet this objective by presenting complex material clearly and with enough passion, originality and humour to hold the interest of the students.”

The MacAnatomy project came to life as Bruce Wainman recognized that students are learning very differently today from even a decade ago. In light of that reality, Bruce worked to ensure that teaching resources and methods evolved to remain ahead of the curve. Under his leadership, anatomy specimens were digitalized, electronically annotated and linked with radiological images and histology. Students were given access to all of this information on any one of their electronic devices. The site that began as an inventory would grow to over 70 gigabytes of material and surpass 1,000,000 page views.

A strong supporter of the PIE approach (Preparation, Insight and Enthusiasm), he feels we often spend too much time arguing about the best approach to teaching when all approaches can be successful in the right circumstances.

Bruce lives and embodies everything of value in education, from the way he treats each person to the way he leads cultural and structural change. His brilliance in the design and use of educational technologies and his achievements in the educational research go above and beyond his regular duties.

Eileen Wood describes herself as “a beginner with a lot of experience.” A self-professed lifelong learner, Eileen “walks the talk” constantly updating the material for her Psychology courses. Being an early adopter of new technologies, she has a dedication to enhancing student learning. She focuses not just on teaching the material but on teaching students how best to respond to and learn the material. Engagement is a hallmark of all of Dr. Wood’s classes, regardless of size. As one student commented, “I really enjoy the class. When we get to the end, I don’t even want to leave.” Practical hands-on experiences are a cornerstone of her teaching, as is giving to community partners. She ensures that students are able to make connections between what they learn in class and “real life” through assignments, observations and community placements.

A perennial leader, she recently developed an innovative Ontario-wide course that will allow students throughout the province to have this same opportunity. Eileen embraces the philosophy that teaching and learning are intricately linked, and she demonstrates the value of applying novel scholarly research on teaching and learning to her teaching practice. For Eileen, terrific teaching encourages risk-taking, should be fun, and is her legacy. As one her colleagues said, “Her passion and enthusiasm for improving student learning are absolutely contagious and her generosity in all undertakings is extraordinary.”