This document presents the rationale for laboratory work, which is alleged to be ritualistic in many schools and colleges. The rationale is that laboratories are a fertile source of memory structures called episodes, which would enhance the comprehension of abstract subject matter when associated with it. Specific and generalized episodes are described. Consideration of these episodes leads to recommendations for inclusion in a year's program of: (1) a few unusual and dramatic experiments that can be linked to topics of central importance; (2) experiments that involve common, everyday objects as equipment so that physics can be more easily related to daily life; and (3) experiments that are true problems, which will train students in planning an investigation instead of following directions and in writing a proper report instead of reciting the steps laid down in a manual. (Author/GA)