An elective unit was developed for a course (Math 20) which would teach students to program solutions to typical exercises. Development of the unit took place in a large senior high school in Alberta. The elective is 15 hours long, with the first five hours devoted to learning programming fundamentals and the final ten hours to programming solutions. Students were scheduled for one hour per week into the computer lab. For students of five teachers each semester, achievement, understanding, awareness of computers, attitude toward computers, and knowledge of BASIC were assessed. Simple t-tests and chi-square tests were used to compare the project group to the control group in four other high schools in the district. No significant difference in achievement was found; the control group outperformed the project group on the understanding measure. The project group was more aware of computers, but the control group had more positive attitudes toward computers. Project students knew more BASIC at the conclusion of the program. It was concluded that the findings suggest that the elective did not meet all of its objectives, but nevertheless seemed promising. Appendices include the instruments used in the study and the student handbook for the unit. (MNS)