The Coast Guard, in efforts to improve the safety of recreational boating, undertook research to identify educational alternatives in boating safety programs. Background research was done to assess materials from areas of boating education and education in comparable recreational areas. Research was also conducted to review educational and mass media methods suitable for conducting boating educational programs. Output from this research provided information for planning and conducting a boater educational program. The prototype program utilized mass media, formal boating courses, Coast Guard visitations, and home study methods. The program was directed toward reducing collision and loading-related accidents and fatalities. A video tape supplement was produced to present the prototype program in the perspective of an actual educational effort. Two evaluations of the mass media-type messages using experimental methods were performed. One experiment tested three levels of participatory response on the part of the viewers of a specially prepared television public service announcement for boater education. The version evoking highest participatory response levels produced greater recall of information given in the announcement. Another experiment compared a "model" pamphlet design to a "typical" pamphlet design used in other boating educational materials. Recall of pamphlet information was greater for the "model" design. (Appendix materials, which comprise about one half of this document, include, among other things, mailing lists for private and government agencies, and publishers relevant to boating and boating education.) (CSS)