A pilot study with 17 middle school science teachers at 15 schools was conducted to determine how to use interactive videodisc technology to develop student ability to use visual skills in processing science information, thereby improving science achievement. The first year's progress is described in identifying how visual images seem to affect student learning. A survey of student attitudes toward the use of images to learn science was conducted with five seventh-grade classes. An analysis of 56 sets of responses identified the ways students were using the videos and what they liked. A 29-item survey was given to 395 students to learn more about their attitudes. Results support the idea that stimulating verbal achievement with visual images under the control of a teacher or students is a successful way to improve science learning. Sixty to 80 percent of students responded that the use of visual images helped them learn. Teacher reactions were also favorable. A model is presented to guide the instructional use of images in the classroom. One table and one figure supplement the discussion. (Contains 15 references.) (SLD)