Chemistry: Experimental Foundations (004)

This is the 4th edition of the CHEM Study text developed through National Science Foundation grants and studies in the late 1050's-early 60's. The objective was to develop a cohesive, comprehensive, sequentially organized curriculum for chemistry. The original, first edition was literally used for decades, and included coordinated experiments used to discover natural laws and relationships, and which led into the textbook work used to expand upon the subject. After sufficient background was developed, the periodic table was introduced as an organizing tool based upon experiment, rather than a tool for memorizing properties of elements, as it often is in more "modern" texts. A full series of excellent videos (updated and still available) was developed along with the rest of the course. This edition shows the same excellent organization that made learning and teaching an organized, comprehensive experience. Compared with modern texts, it is short on the 'fancy stuff" such as color illustrations (there are very few), CD/DVD roms and on-line help and practice sites (none), and the like. There are also only a very few problem samples, which means that the student must make a transition from reading about principles to applying them in many cases. How that is done is left to the guidance of a competent teacher, and was aided by a teachers manual (no longer in print, and hard to find on-line) which gave background for each section of each chapter and step-by-step problem solutions. The shortage of problem solving examples is the only reason I give this text less than a 5 star rating.