The purpose of this study was to determine if college students could benefit from the use of visual and manipulative aids while studying a mathematical topic. A sample of 33 freshmen were pretested for mathematical ability, divided into ability levels by means of ACT composite scores, and randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups for a three-hour study of the function concept. Three teachers each taught each class once. Common lesson plans were used, but visual aids were used by one group and physical materials used in another group. Achievement, transfer, and retention tests were administered to all students. In analyses of variance, no significant differences were found between the two groups who used aids and the group who did not use aids. There were significant differences between the two groups who used aids, the group using physical materials scoring higher than the group using visual aids on all posttests. No significant interactions were observed. (MM)