Evaluated was the effectiveness of the materials of one book, "Charting the Universe," of the six books that comprise the University of Illinois Elementary Science Project. Five hypotheses were tested, including one related to students' general understanding of science, and another related to students' views of astronomy, arithmetic, scientists, and learning experiences in science. Instruments used were Test on Understanding Science (TOUS), two locally constructed subject-matter achievement tests, and an experimental designed semantic differential instrument to measure children's perceptions of science. The student population (43 boys and 49 girls) consisted of the entire fifth grade in the University of Chicago Laboratory School during the school year 1963-64. All students were taught for ten weeks by the same person, a science teacher at the Laboratory School. Major findings of the study were: (1) students were moderately successful in mastering some of the topics taught; (2) students' general knowledge of astronomy increased during the ten weeks of instruction; (3) the effect of studying these materials on general understanding of science were slight; (4) studying the materials did affect the students' view of astronomy, but did not affect their view of learning experiences in science. (BR)