This investigation evaluated the effectiveness of a teaching approach on the students' ability to demonstrate and retain specific behaviors of science inquiry skill in the attainment of critical thinking ability in problem-solving situations. The sample consisted of 318 first-year liberal arts, chemistry students who were assigned to three groups, each of which was taught a volumetric analysis unit by a different method. Obourn's analysis of problem solving abilities was used to design experiments which structured science inquiry skill and stude t activity. Evaluation of students' achievement was made by an analysis of variance of scores on constructed tests administered immediately after each laboratory session, and after a period of delayed recall at the end of the semester. The nature of the teaching approach increased the ability to think critically and increased ability in cognitive skills. Accomplishing these objectives best was the group taught by a method in which the teacher demonstrated the laboratory technique by applying the models for structuring problem solving behaviors, and in addition, requiring the students to conceptualize these behaviors through verbal discourse between colleagues. (GR)