E. J. Holmyard and the historical approach to science teaching

Abstract

E. J. Holmyard was a distinguished scholar and schoolmaster in England in the first half of the twentieth century. After graduating from Cambridge in both natural science and history, he quickly established a reputation for his research into the early history of chemistry, especially Islamic alchemy, and for his advocacy of a historical approach to the teaching of science. Both these interests found expression in his large number of school chemistry textbooks, many of which were highly successful and innovative publications, placing chemistry in its wider historical and cultural contexts and offering insights into what today would be called ‘the nature of science’. This essay explores the historical method of science teaching with particular reference to Holmyard’s ideas and his authorship of textbooks and comments upon why the history of science has featured so prominently in the history of school science education.