A great teacher: an influence that lasts a lifetime
Prizes and awards series
In the fifth of our series showcasing 2020 prize and award winners, we celebrate our educators and their contribution to the chemical sciences community.
Albert Einstein said, "It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge." These beautifully crafted words speak volumes about the role that teachers play in inspiring future generations of scientists.
Teachers' contribution to the chemical sciences is immeasurable. Their influence takes many forms and can stay with an individual for their entire life.
Whether it’s engaging pupils with science and chemistry in the classroom, or students at university, we believe that those who teach chemistry and chemistry research should be given greater recognition. We’re making sure that this broad definition of teaching is reflected in our Prizes and Awards portfolio – take a look at our five point plan in Re-thinking recognition.
For many, teaching is their calling. As we’ll find out from the Prizes and Awards winners featured in this article, it was the desire to make a difference to young people’s lives that drove their choice of career.
Memorable mentors
When we reflect on our own experience of education, it’s likely that one particular teacher stands out.
The one who made a dull or difficult subject interesting. The one who was approachable. The one who took extra time to help us. The one whose sense of humour made it fun. All of the above! Maybe that one teacher was the reason we chose a particular career path.
This is certainly the case for many of our 2,000 members who tell us they chose a career in the chemical sciences because they were inspired by their chemistry teacher at school.
Glenn Hurst is a lecturer at York University and specialises in teaching green and sustainable chemistry.
As a discipline, green chemistry seeks to minimise the hazardous effects on human health and the environment in chemistry research and chemistry-using industries.
Glenn's work has received international acclaim and contributed to a greater momentum to incorporate green and sustainable chemistry into the curriculum at multiple levels across the world. This year he received the Higher Education Teaching Award.
"I love teaching," Glenn says. "My work is centred around using innovative approaches to help students engage with and contextualise chemistry with a particular emphasis on green and sustainable chemistry."
"To achieve this, I use holistic system- thinking approaches to equip the scientists, engineers and policymakers of tomorrow with the knowledge and skills to address complex, interdisciplinary and real-world problems as outlined by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals."
Glenn is motivated by seeing students improve and learn. "It’s brilliant to be able to work with talented students to enhance the curriculum and conduct pedagogic research though I think I get the most satisfaction from working with students who aren’t necessarily the most talented but want to do all they can to be the best they can be."
Igniting imaginations, nurturing curiosity
An inspirational chemistry teacher translates theory into practical, engaging experiences for their students.
For 30 years, chemistry lecturer Mike Foulkes enlightened young minds by bringing chemistry to life. "…my job was to show where chemistry fitted into the real and practical, 'everyday' world; to help students to, not only understand certain areas of chemistry but also to train them in how they could roll their sleeves up and actually practice chemistry."
A long-standing member of the RSC Analytical Division, Mike was awarded the Anne Bennett Memorial Award for Distinguished Service this year. The award also recognises his work to promote analytical chemistry, particularly atomic spectroscopy.
Inspired by his own chemistry teacher, Mike followed a career in chemistry, first in industry, then academia.
The chance to teach chemistry and to train students and hopefully inspire a generation of future chemists has been a highlight of his career. Keen to encourage others into the profession, he offers some advice.
"It doesn’t matter who you are, if you have a passion for your subject and really enjoy what you do, then with perseverance, and with the range of skills you acquire along the way, you will succeed."
Removing barriers to learning
Linking classroom teaching to real world chemistry research is the aim of the ChemBAM project.
Launched in 2017, the website provides free resources, including experiments, worksheets and videos that link the UK national curriculum to chemistry research. It also aims to inspire school pupils to consider a degree in chemistry.
ChemBAM is led by a group of chemists – Ruth Patchett, Nicola Rogers and Zoe Schnepp – who are all passionate about showcasing the importance of chemistry. Through their outreach work at disadvantaged schools, the team has created stimulating learning experiences for pupils. The project was commended through our awards programme this year, receiving the Inspiration and Industry Award.
The ChemBAM team are driven by a shared passion to eradicate education inequality in the UK. Zoe Schnepp explains.
"Our resources are all free to download and we have also been able to provide equipment to a number of disadvantaged schools so they can run our experiments in their classrooms. It’s a small contribution to a large problem but it’s something we’re really proud of and it’s easy to be motivated when you are doing something you believe in.
"We work with some incredibly enthusiastic student volunteers and it’s been really exciting seeing them come up with their own ideas for activities."
The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted how important it is for pupils and students to have access to online learning materials. Working with volunteers from the University of Birmingham, ChemBAM has enhanced its offering by adding a suite of home-learning resources.
To our teachers and educators… we salute you for your inspiration, your knowledge, your patience and the indelible memories you leave behind.
Find out more…
- Visit our winner gallery to explore more of our 2020 Prizes and Awards winners.
- Use our education website to find resources and ideas to help engage your students. And, if you teach in the UK or Ireland, sign up to Teach Chemistry to get support for your whole department.
- Explore how we are re-thinking recognition to make our science prizes fit for the modern world.
- Read our Science Horizons report to learn more about emerging trends and priorities in scientific research.
Press office
- Tel:
- +44 (0) 20 7440 3351
- Email:
- Send us an email