The study evaluated an Anthropology Curriculum Study Project course, "Patterns in Human History," used with high school students in a one year field test situation. Ethnographic and cognitive components of the curriculum were examined. The specific objective of the research was to examine the behavioral effects on students, teachers, and schools of the curriculum materials and to adapt the materials to student and teacher needs prior to dissemination of the curriculum. The methodology involved observing curriculum use among 1,200 tenth grade students in eight urban high schools in northern California, becoming knowledgeable about social organization patterns in a public high school, and evaluating cognitive learning among pupils using the curriculum. Evaluation of the ethnographic studies component focused on teacher and student psychological and cultural orientations, community context, student-teacher interaction, and responses of school personnel to innovative programs. Measurement of cognitive achievement among students who participated in the course centered on discussion of cognitive research strategies as they relate to learning complex concepts, processing social data, identifying status positions, and on applying research in these areas to the anthropology curriculum. Recommendations for curriculum improvement included that teachers be better prepared to deal with anthropology content and that ethnic studies be incorporated into the anthropology curriculum. It was concluded that anthropology course experiences increased student ability to draw inferences about societies from artifacts and written anecdotes and to process and apply ideas from anthropology to social realities. Appendices are included. (DB)