Education
In his inaugural lecture as professor of chemistry at University College London, Nyholm spoke of his concern for the teaching of chemistry. In 1957 Nyholm organized the first of an annual series of Summer Schools at University College on new aspects of chemical knowledge and theory, and demonstrations of new equipment. In the early sixties, the Nuffield Foundation, at least partly as a result of Nyholm’s influence, established the Science Teaching project, of which Nyholm was the first Chairman of the Chemistry Consultative Committee. This led to the development of experiential GCE courses that emphasized the process of chemistry, rather than the recall of chemical facts, and explored the role of chemistry in society. In 1971 Ron published an article entitled 'Education for Change' in which he differentiated between education and training as it applies to chemistry. He defined education as ‘a process in which a person receives a training for a full life in a rapidly changing modern society, carried out in such a manner as will ensure the maximum development of the individual personality'. He was not a person who placed too much emphasis on fact-burdened and fact-tested learning such as in the National Curriculum developments in England in the nineteen-nineties.
Nyholm defined training for a full life as including:
- ‘ Recognition of oneself as an individual with the development of some kind of ethical standards. This may take place via training in religion of one kind or other; whether these beliefs are rejected later or not, they form at least a basis against which future behaviour can be measured.’
- ‘ Man is a social being and needs to be made familiar with the nature of, and the reason for, the development of the society in which he is living …’
- ‘ Man needs to be able to communicate both by the spoken word and the written word …’
- ‘ Man must be numerate. It is essential that he receive an understanding of the process of quantitative thinking appropriate to his intellectual ability.’
Read more about this topic: Ronald Sydney Nyholm
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