This study tested the common assumption that lists of instructional objectives (LIOs) presented at the start of a lesson are used as advance organizers (AOs). Because traditional research designs have yielded conflicting results, an alternative design was used that sought to falsify the necessary association between the objectives and their use that results when AOs are used. Students (n=684) aged 12 to 19 in 17 classes in 8 schools were shown different lists of 4 objectives for 10 minutes of a 30-minute normal lesson. One objective was not used in the lesson. Students were then asked to recall the four objectives and identify which was not used. In all, 234 students correctly recalled all 4 objectives. Of these, 70 (29.6%) could not identify the unused objective. These 70 cases falsify the existence of the necessary association. Comparisons of the mean percentile rankings of these students from previous class tests indicated that an emphasis on memory and a de-emphasis on structuring learning may have discouraged the use of LIOs as AOs. (Contains 3 figures, 3 tables, and 48 references.) (Author/SLD)