About Us
Built by educators who understand how students learn chemistry—and how to help them succeed.
Why We Created REAL CHEM
MAKING CHEMISTRY MEANINGFUL
We help students discover chemistry’s role in their world and recognize their potential to shape it.
CREATING CHEMISTS FOR LIFE
We allow students to see how their lives and careers can be enriched by learning to think like a chemist.
Our Core Principles
RELEVANT
We show students how chemistry connects to careers they never considered, opening doors to opportunities in STEM and beyond.
ENGAGING
Cinematic video of real people and real scenarios, followed by interactive activities with personalized feedback, engages and supports students.
ACTIVE LEARNING
Students participate in interactive activities and applications—building confidence to tackle the next question.
Where Research Meets Innovation
Carnegie Mellon University's Open Learning Initiative
OLI brings decades of learning science research to REAL CHEM, creating proven approaches that drive student success.
Arizona State University's ETX Center
ETX contributes cutting-edge technology to help REAL CHEM reach more students effectively.
Our Journey
2018
ASU and CMU join forces to reimagine chemistry education through learning science
2020
Partner institutions help us refine our approach with extensive classroom testing
2022
REAL CHEM makes its debut with data-driven insights and immersive learning experiences
2024
We expand our impact with an enhanced toolset and new collaborative features
Meet some of the Real People Behind REAL CHEM
Foundations of REAL CHEM
REAL CHEM was developed with support from philanthropic funders and partner organizations committed to improving undergraduate chemistry education.
Early funding supported research, instructional materials, and course design approaches that informed the development of REAL CHEM, while ongoing collaborations with educators, researchers, and institutional partners continue to shape its content, structure, and implementation.
Together, these partnerships span a range of instructional models, learner populations, and forms of support—reflecting a shared investment in advancing evidence-based chemistry education.
Contributing Initiatives and Partnerships
AHA! Chemistry
The instructional approaches, classroom strategies, and sustained community of practice developed through this work—supported through a grant from the California Learning Lab—directly informed subsequent platform development and expansion.
Critical Chemistry
This work advanced a learn-by-doing, case-study-based approach to introductory chemistry that informed the design and evolution of RC’s explorations and was supported by funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
OLI General Chemistry 1
A scaffolded, feedback-rich instructional model incorporating virtual labs and assessments, with content adapted from OpenStax Chemistry, informed REAL CHEM’s Foundation layer with support from Carnegie Mellon University.
Explore What REAL CHEM Has to Offer
Join educators who believe in making chemistry meaningful for every student.
