TEACHERS IN BIOLOGY, ENGLISH, HUMANITIES, MATHEMATICS, PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES AT THE UNIVERSITY AND AT VARIOUS JUNIOR COLLEGES IN FLORIDA TESTED THE VALUE OF ORIENTING COURSES TOWARD STUDENT PARTICIPATION AND AWAY FROM LECTURES. EACH INSTRUCTOR CONDUCTED ONE CONVENTIONAL COURSE AND ONE EXPERIMENTAL, LESS STRUCTURED COURSE COVERING THE SAME MATERIAL. ALTHOUGH THERE WAS LITTLE DIFFERENCE IN THE MEAN ACHIEVEMENT OF EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS, THE MORE ABLE STUDENTS DID BETTER UNDER EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS, WHILE THE LESS ABLE STUDENTS DID BETTER UNDER CONVENTIONAL CONDITIONS. TEACHERS FELT THAT STUDENTS IN THE EXPERIMENTAL SECTIONS LEARNED MORE ABOUT MATTERS RELATED TO BUT NOT ACTUALLY A PART OF THE COURSE MATERIAL. COMPARING EXPERIMENTAL AND REGULAR CLASSES, STUDENTS FELT THAT THEY DID MORE WORK IN THE EXPERIMENTAL SITUATIONS, WERE MORE INDEPENDENT IN THEM, AND WERE MORE COMFORTABLE (BUT LESS SECURE) IN THEM. IN THE FIRST YEAR OF THE PROGRAM, STUDENT REACTION TO THE EXPERIMENTAL COURSES WAS GENERALLY NEGATIVE--IN THE SECOND YEAR, STUDENT REACTION WAS MORE POSITIVE. (THE PROGRAM AS A WHOLE, THE INDIVIDUAL EXPERIMENTS, AND THE EVALUATIVE PROCEDURES USED ARE DISCUSSED IN DETAIL.) (AD)