A study was recently conducted in a suburban middle school regarding two teaching strategies. Ninety-three eighth grade "students" were administered a pretest regarding classification as related to taxonomy. Thirty of the students conducted an inquiry lab concerning classification. They then participated in a class discussion regarding the material. The remaining thirty students first participated in a class discussion regarding classification, they then completed the laboratory exercise. A posttest was administered at the conclusion of the unit and a retention test was administered four months later. Statistical analysis through the use of t-tests indicates a statistically significant performance difference on the scores of the posttest. No significant difference was found when comparing the respective retention test scores.