The American Institute of CPAs announced the 2011 recipients of three accounting curriculum awards granted to educators who demonstrate innovative teaching practices at three different educational levels.

The winners’ curricula will join those of past awardees in the AICPA’s new curriculum tool for members, the Accounting Professors’ Curriculum Resource.

“The curricula developed by these award winners will serve as the foundation on which many future CPAs will build their careers,” said Jeannie Patton, AICPA vice president, students, academics and membership, in a statement. “The Accounting Professor’s Curriculum Resource is a great new opportunity to share this information with a wider audience of educators and ultimately maximize the benefit to students.”

The awards were bestowed for three teaching levels: the first sequence of accounting, junior and senior-level and graduate-level.

Priscilla Wightman, MS, CPA, chair, department of business administration and accounting at Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y. won the 2011 Bea Sanders/AICPA Innovation in Teaching Award in the first sequence of accounting. Wightman’s entry, “$Chocolate$: Accounting as a First Year Seminar,” explored the financial performance of the world’s largest chocolate producers.

The 2011 George Krull/Grant Thornton Teaching Innovation Award for junior and senior-level accounting courses went to Karen Tabak, associate professor of accounting and economics at Maryville University in St. Louis. Her submission, “From Pacioli to Picasso: Using Art to Enhance Critical Thinking in Accounting Capstone Course,” utilizes name cards, picture drawings and classical art to develop critical thinking skills.

Three teachers shared the 2011 Mark Chain/FSA Teaching Innovation Award for graduate-level instruction with a submission titled, “Modelling Uncertainty in C-V-P Assignments: Going Beyond the Basics!” Terry Campbell of the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University–Bloomington, Paul M. Goldwater from the University of Central Florida and David E. Stout of Youngstown State University designed the curriculum to develop insights about probabilistic model building and interpretation.

With travel expenses covered by the AICPA, The Federation of Schools of Accountancy and Grant Thornton, the winners will present their curriculum and accept their awards at the 2012 American Accounting Association annual meeting.

“The AICPA would like to thank the FSA and Grant Thornton for their contributions, as well as the AAA for their efforts coordinating the sessions at their annual conference,” said Patton.

The award winners are selected by the Pre-certification Education Executive Committee of the AICPA. More information can be found here.