Differences in levels of subject matter learning at the university level were explored to determine how a learning task is approached between those who are successful and those who are less successful. Students read a selected social science text, (Paul Samuelson's "Economics", for example), related the material learned, answered content questions, gave personal impressions of the learning activity, and discussed general attitudes toward university studies. A second interview, five to six weeks later, concentrated on retention of previously learned material. Two major attitudes appeared to be connected with two different conceptions of learning--one that learning is something a person does and the other that learning is something that happens to a person. These attitudes determined to a large extent the things students learned, as well as the different ways in which they learned. These findings indicated that learning should be described in terms of the structural aspect of its content. In the section exploring the relationship between knowledge and skill, it is shown through experimentation with physics phenomena in a problem-solving situation that cognitive skills are aspects of knowledge, rather than independent of knowledge. Remarks on the debate on education during the 1970s and on separate categories of thought are offered. References and a listing of reports from the Institute of Education, University of Goteborg, Sweden, are provided. (Author/DB)