The instructor's guide, the first of three documents in this package, is for a course to help students who are investigating the activities within a hospital, clinic, or physician's office. The material is designed to relate training experience to information studied in the classroom. The course is intended for individualized study and is competency based with educational outcomes stated for each unit. The instructor's manual provides a list of essential elements correlated to the units of instruction. A basic test, answers to tests, and answers to learning activities are included for each unit, and a competency chart is included. The materials are organized in 11 units: safety in the laboratory; organization of the laboratory; collecting and processing specimens; laboratory equipment; urinalysis; hematology; serology; microbiology; chemistry; the blood banks; and histology and cytology. The student's manual, the second of the three documents, is designed for use by students investigating the activities within a medical laboratory in a hospital, clinic, or physician's office. The material is designed to relate training experience to information studied in the classroom. It is designed for individualized study and is competency based, with educational outcomes stated for each unit. The student's manual contains learning objectives terms and definitions, and information relating to current practices. Topics addressed are: the organization, personnel, and types of equipment used in laboratories. Collection and processing of specimens are described. Techniques, both manual and automated, are discussed for the following departments: urinalysis, hematology, serology, microbiology, chemistry, the blood bank, and histology and cytology. Safety and quality control are emphasized. The illustrated units consist of objectives, terms and definitions, information sheets, and a summary. The manual also contains a list of 53 medical laboratory abbreviations and a bibliography listing 18 references. Individualized student learning activities are provided (in the last of the three documents) to encourage students to read and study the information presented in the medical laboratory assisting course. One or more learning activities are included for each of the 11 course units. Materials consist of questions to answer, suggested research activities, matching tests, and labeling activities. (KC)