Troy Sadler, the Thomas James Distinguished Professor in Experiential Learning at the UNC School of Education, has been honored by the University of South Florida’s College of Education.
The college awarded Sadler its Dean’s Lifetime Achievement Alumni Award, citing his teaching and his research in developing new ways to teach science.
The college says it awards the Dean’s Lifetime Achievement Alumni Award to someone who has demonstrated long-term contributions, achievement and service within education or a related profession — on a local, state, regional, national and/or global level.
Sadler, who teaches in the Culture, Curriculum and Teacher Education and the Learning Sciences and Psychological Studies strands of the Ph.D. program, earned a doctorate in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in science education from USF in 2003. In addition to his Ph.D. from USF, Sadler received a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Miami and a Master of Education in science education from the University of Florida.
Sadler is part of a movement within science education that advocates promotion of a type of scientific literacy that can be applied in everyday lives. He conducts research related to how students negotiate complex socio-scientific issues and how these issues may be used as contexts for science learning. He has also studied and published about how issues-based learning experiences can support student learning of science and development of practices essential for full participation in democratic societies.
Sadler’s findings have ranked him among the top 15 most-published researchers in the field of science education with more than 15,000 citations of his work.
His work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Education Sciences, the U.S. Department of Education, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as well as local foundations and state agencies.
Sadler has received numerous awards throughout his career, such as the Early Career Research Award from the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, the Cultural Studies of Science Education Distinguished Paper Award from the academic journal “Cultural Studies of Science Education,” and the Journal of Research in Science Teaching Award from the National Association for Research in Science Teaching.
Read more about Sadler and his award at the USF College of Education’s website.