This paper reports a study designed to examine the types of behaviors students exhibit while conducting laboratory activities and assess the effectiveness of strategies students employ. The sample was 42 students enrolled in a physics lab section at a single university. Three types of data were collected: (1) observational data during the lab sessions, (2) interviews, and (3) written assignments. The data collected through the observations revealed five different categories of strategies: integration, completion-of-task, calculation, observation, and social interactions. Integration was defined as the group of strategies that students used in attempting to relate the laboratory task to theory or prior knowledge. Task completion is the set of strategies used to get through the various tasks to collect data. Calculations referred to finding and using mathematical formulae. Observation contained two strategies: selective attention and data verification. The last category, social interactions, contained two sub-categories: task distribution and disagreement resolution. (PR)