Science Teaching

The Royal Society of Chemistry was mentioned 9 times in the adjournment debate in Westminster Hall on 15 January 2007. A debate influenced by people's memories of chemistry when they were younger. Dr Brian Iddon MP; Mark Lancaster MP; Maria Miller MP  & Jim Knight MP all mentioned the RSC by name. Chemistry was mentioned by Dr Ian Gibson MP, Dr Evan Harris MP and Ms Annette Brook MP.

The debate highlighted the importance of practical science to enthuse younger people. Mark Lancaster said "My plea to the Minister is, simply, let us make science fun again. It is certainly not his fault, but there has been a general decline for various reasons that I shall consider shortly. Science is not as fun as it used to be, and that has to be a crying shame.

I am a lucky chap. We have discussed having chemistry sets when we were young, and my set was probably the best in the world. It was a firework factory. One of my earliest memories is as a young lad, peaking over my father's work bench to see him mixing wonderful coloured chemicals, and with a glint in his eye, he would take me with him to blow them up in the garden. We would bury them to see how big a hole we could create. My mother would be absolutely horrified when my father got slightly bored on a Friday afternoon, because he would give me the nod and we would creep out and blow holes in the garden. It was a wonderful way to start".

The RSC provided MPs with a briefing note prior to the debate. This briefing along with a link to the debate can be found below.