The purpose of the study was to determine if three treatment programs of varying degrees of abstractness would produce similar effects on first year college students. One hundred four students participated in the study. All had completed, at minimum, a one-year high school chemistry course. Treatment was restricted to the laboratory portion of a chemistry course for Home Economics and Health Professions I. Ten laboratory exercises, each built around stated behavioral objectives, and of varying abstractness, were completed by all students. Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) was used to measure chemistry achievement. Three 25-item subscales in CAT were based on the degree of cognitive complexity reflected in the question, Level I being least complex and Level III most complex. Attitudes toward science were measured by Science Attitude Inventory (SAI) by Moore and Test on Understanding Science (TOUS). All instruments were employed in a pre- posttest mode. Employing a .05 level of significance criteria to gain scores, it was found that all three programs were effective in producing learning at all three CAT levels. None of the programs produced significant gain scores on TOUS, SAI, or any subscales of these instruments. (Author/EB)