This project consisted of the design, trial use, and evaluation of instructional procedures designed to reduce the amount of routine information given directly to the students by the instructor in chemistry laboratory courses for college freshmen. Printed materials gave the student a decision-making role in planning his laboratory work. Tape-slide mechanical devices presented routine information. It was concluded that instructional procedures which combine presentation of resource information by mechanical means and which allow students' a choice in planning their work have definite promise in overcoming deficiencies in laboratory instruction brought about by the decrease in the number of qualified laboratory instructors. The method was also found to give students valuable practice in designing experiments, in testing hypotheses, in ordering data, in predicting effects of actions, and in formulating hypotheses from evidence, all important aspects of laboratory instruction. (GR)