Opinion: We need new stories, contexts and examples in chemistry education

But students also benefit from seeing what society brings to chemistry – the diversity of the people that carry it out and who introduce new viewpoints, fresh ideas and different ways of thinking. Representation and inclusivity in chemistry education are critical to the learning experience and will help to ensure that pathways in the chemical sciences are open and attractive to all.

As described in our new policy position, to us a good chemistry education effectively portrays the practice of science, including the people that carry it out. This practice is based on historic contributions to scientific discovery across different cultures and geographical locations.

For example, at GCSE students currently learn about the model of the atom developing over time through the discoveries of Thomson, Rutherford and Bohr, but Marie Curie’s work in this field, and how her discoveries challenged the long-held belief that atoms were solid, is not included. Students do not learn about key contributions in other areas of chemistry, such as those from Jabr Ibn Hayyan who discovered several acids that students use regularly in the classroom, and several experimental techniques including distillation.

Chemistry education should also reflect how science in the real world, be it in industry, academia or civil society, is a global endeavour. Contemporary science developments are collaborative efforts involving intersectoral, interdisciplinary and intercultural working within diverse teams – and should be reflected as such to the new generation.

Students should be able to relate to, and identify with, people and contexts within both an accurate historical and modern representation of science. If students feel that their identity aligns with a subject, that it is for people like them, they are more likely to pursue that subject further.

Many students therefore don’t identify with chemistry as we currently present it. Reinforced stereotypes and assumptions of who can be a chemist lead to many learners feeling that chemistry is ‘not for people like me’.

What is the Royal Society of Chemistry doing?

There are several ways that these issues can be tackled, but broadly we are calling for two main changes.

We want more diverse demonstration of scientist contributions in chemistry curriculums.  Alongside this we’re calling for increased global perspectives in the chemistry curriculum, to show how a diverse society participates in science and delivers innovative solutions that make a difference to lives locally and globally. We’ve laid out some specific recommendations to government and beyond on how we think this could be approached, in our full policy position.

We’re already making the case for greater diversity and representation in the chemistry curriculum to governments and key stakeholders, including in the active curriculum reviews across the UK. We’re engaging in encouraging conversations with exam boards in England on their plans for improving diversity in specifications and assessments in science, and hope to do the same across the other nations of the UK as their plans develop.  

For our own offer to teachers, we’ve started taking steps to ensure our support, resources and training reflects our new stance on greater representation and diverse perspectives in chemistry. This includes early development of role model teaching resources for teachers to incorporate in their lessons, and a database of diverse role models that link to key parts of the 5-19 curriculum.