[2] Her leadership and work as a teacher and mentor of women faculty and students has been described as "nothing short of heroic".
Kohlstedt received the 2013 History of Science Society's Margaret Rossiter Prize for the Best Book on Women's History for Teaching Children Science: Hands-On Nature Study in North America, 1890-1930 (University of Chicago Press, 2010).
[9][10] The book examines the work of women in bringing natural science education into the American classroom and demonstrates that it was innovative women teachers who introduced science into the public schools in the early twentieth century.
[8] Kohlstedt is a life member of the History of Science Society (HSS) and has been actively involved in a variety of roles including Secretary, 1978-1981; Council, 1982-1984, 1989-1991, and 1994-1995; Vice-President, 1990 and 1991 and President, 1992 and 1993, among others.
[11] She has also served on the board of directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).