This paper presents a review of the research concerning the effect of the lecture versus the inquiry teaching method on student achievement in social studies. The small amount of research found which deals with this topic revealed that the findings are inconclusive as to the best method of presentation in social studies. More research is needed. Some examples of the kinds of research reports found and described in the paper follow. In 1968 Dubin and Taveggia reviewed the data for several scores of comparisons of the lecture and discussion method at the college level. Of 88 comparisons between traditional lecture and discussion methods, as reported in 36 experimental studies, 51% favored the lecture method and 49% favored the discussion method. When they standardized the criterion test scores from these studies, making them comparable from study to study, the average difference between test performance following exposure to lecture or discussion methods, across studies, was very close to zero. It appears that when properly used, the different teaching methods were roughly equivalent in providing opportunities to attain knowledge. In 1980 Janicki, Peterson, and Swing conducted a study to investigate naturally occurring aptitude-treatment interaction with three teaching approaches in social studies: lecture-recital, inquiry, and public issue discussion. Results of experimenter-constructed test outcomes showed the lecture-recitation approach was superior. But relative effectiveness of the approach also depended on student ability and level of conformance. Different approaches were good for different abilities. (RM)