Rose Stern

Rose Stern (17 November 1869 – October 1953) was a teacher from Birmingham, England. She was science mistress at North London Collegiate School for Ladies.

Stern graduated in 1889 from King Edward VI High School for Girls, Birmingham,

Stern is listed in the Register of Fellows, Associates and Students of the Institute of Chemistry as having been admitted as of 17 February 1893. Her address is given as 241, Bristol Road, Birmingham.

Stern received her B.Sc. from Mason College in 1894.

Career From 1897 to 1902, Stern worked as a science mistress at the County School, Bangor. In 1902, Stern became a science mistress at North London Collegiate School for Ladies (later "for Girls"). NLCS had been founded by Frances Mary Buss (1827-1894), whose father Robert Buss was the first science teacher at the school. Both Frances Mary Buss and her successor Sophie Willock (Dr. Sophie Bryant) emphasized the importance of teaching "real science". Soon after her arrival in 1902, Stern was elected President of the Science Club. The students also published their own hand-written illustrated science magazine, The Searchlight. NLCS became a model for other girls' schools around the world.

Stern, with others including Lilian Faithfull, Ida Freund, Charlotte Laurie, Jessie Charles White, and Arthur Smithells debated the proper teaching of science to girls. Stern argued for a blended approach to teaching in which pure chemistry and applied chemistry were presented using familiar substances from kitchen and food preparation. She suggested that using household chemicals in chemistry class would enable girls to better appreciate academic chemistry.

"Every good teacher in science in a girls' school should look for examples for experiments from substances which are known to the pupils, for example, there is no reason why washing soda should not be used instead of another carbonate, and Epsom salts as a type of sulphate."

Stern is listed as having been a member of the staff at NLCS from 1902 to 1930. During her career at NLCS, Stern inspired generations of young women.

According to the North London Collegiate School Magazine, Miss Stern broke one of her legs during the Second World War. After a period of increasing disability at her home in Fairwarp, she died in October 1953.

Publications