Call Number:

09

Repository:

Science History Institute Archives

Extent:

1.8 linear feet (1 record box and 1 hollinger box)

Language:

English and French

Preferred Citation:

Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Records of the Chemical Education Material Study Program, 1960-1991, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Date:

1960-1991 (inclusive) and 1963-1983 (bulk)

Creator:

Ridgway, David W. and Chemical Education Material Study

Form:

Archival materials

Abstract:

Correspondence, newsletters, newspaper and journal articles, exams, reports, and other miscellaneous materials documenting the development of the Chemical Education Material Study Program, which were collected and maintained by the program's Executive Director David W. Ridgway.

The Chemical Education Material Study Program (also known as the CHEM Study Program or CHEMS) was one of two major programs funded by the National Science Foundation to raise the level of high school chemistry curricula. Officially established in 1959 and sponsored by the American Chemical Society, it was largely begun as an answer to the challenge that the Soviet Sputnik project posed to the United States' scientific preeminence.

The Chemical Education Material Study Program was developed at the University of California, Berkeley's College of Chemistry and at Harvey Mudd College. American chemistry educator Richard J. Merrill (1962-1965) and film producer David W. Ridgway (1966-) served stints as the program's Executive Director. Merrill and Ridgway also co-authored a history of the program, The CHEM Study Story, which was published in 1969. The Chemical Education Material Study Program was continued by the University of California, Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science through the 1980s.

The Chemical Education Material Study Program leaned heavily toward actual experimentation and lab work as opposed to rote memorization of descriptions and formulae. A number of educational materials were produced under the program's auspices to guide students and teachers, including the textbook Chemistry: An Experimental Science with an accompanying teacher's guide, a laboratory manual and teacher's guide of the same title, and a full program of twenty-six films. These materials were translated into French, German, Spanish, Japanese, and several other languages (including an unauthorized Soviet version).

Sources

Merrill, Richard J. and David W. Ridgway. The CHEM Study Story. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Company, 1969. - The CHEM Study story : Merrill, Richard J : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Joseph S. Schmuckler Papers, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Records of the Chemical Education Material Study Program contain the records of the Chemical Education Material Study Program, which was established to raise the level of high school chemistry curricula in the United States. The materials in these records were collected and maintained by the program's Executive Director David W. Ridgway.

Arranged in its original order, these records contain internal and external materials, which provide an overview of the Chemical Education Material Study Program. Files concerning education materials produced by the program (including its educational films) and the program's administrative matters are preserved in these records. Files concerning the program's legal affairs (including copyright matters and lawsuits that grew out of classroom accidents) and publicity for the program are also found here.

The contents of the Records of the Chemical Education Material Study Program consist of a variety of materials. Correspondence, newsletters, newspaper and journal articles, exams, and reports are found in these records. Film transcripts, a copy of the book The CHEM Study Story, and other miscellaneous materials are preserved here as well.