93 © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 D. McCown et al., Resources for Teaching Mindfulness, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-30100-6_5 Chapter 5 Scientific Literacy as a Foundational Competency for Teachers of Mindfulness-based Interventions Willoughby B. Britton Introduction: Standards of Excellence Maintaining the highest standards of excellence among MBI teachers is one of the most pressing issues of the field (McCown, Reibel, & Micozzi, 2017). Well- delineated MBI teacher excellence criteria include sustained and ongoing personal mindfulness practices, knowledge of Buddhist maps, and a wide range of definitions and discourses about mindfulness (Kabat-Zinn, 2011a, 2011b; Kabat-Zinn et al., 2014; McCown et al., 2010). This chapter addresses another dimension of teacher excellence, a foundational scientific literacy for MBI teachers which includes: • An understanding of the interdependence of MBIs and scientific research • A foundational knowledge of the science of meditation • Practical methods to integrate science-based didactic material into the MBI curriculum • Skills for evaluating the ever-changing evidence base of scientific research • Evidence-based practice beyond the classroom W.B. Britton, Ph.D. (*) Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University Medical School, Providence, RI 02906, USA Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Brown University School of Public Health, 185 Brown Street, Providence, RI 02906, USA e-mail: willoughby_britton@brown.edu willoughby_britton@brown.edu