The primary objective of this seven chapter book is to legitimize the inclusion of history in the elementary school curriculum by drawing from theory and research ultimately aimed at providing teachers with suggestions for practice. As such, the first chapter emphasizes the importance of including history in the elementary school curriculum outlining the ideal goals of history teaching as well as research on history learning. Similarly, chapter two extends on the literature review in the first chapter by presenting the reader with different approaches to teaching history as well as results from studies on history teaching.

In the remainder of the book the authors draw from a study they conducted on the teaching and learning of American history in a fifth grade classroom. In chapter four the authors provide a detailed account of the research methodology. Generally, the study involved detailed case studies of American history units taught by three experienced teachers as well as pre- and post-test evaluations of students’ knowledge of American history before and after completion of these units.

However, before the research methodology is discussed, in the third chapter the reader is introduced to one of the teacher participants Mary Lake. Mary is described as a “storyteller” because she chose to communicate the past to her students in the form of stories rather than helping her students remember facts and connect ideas. The authors note that while this kept her students engaged, this teaching style is limited because it focuses solely on traditional historical accounts and “American values.” In contrast, as we later learn in chapter five, Ramona Palmer is described as a scientific historian because she presents history as an academic discipline. Thus, her teaching focused on how historians gather evidence in order to construct truth in history and was consequently aimed at teaching students how to research the past in order to be able to make historical claims. In this case, the authors praise Ramona for her in-depth teaching of subject matter but criticize her teaching style for its rigid and limited focus on how the past can be interpreted. In chapter six the reader is introduced to yet another method of history teaching through Sara Atkinson’s case. Sara teaches history as a tool for developing an understanding of social issues with the end goal of helping her students become critical thinkers and “social actors.” She was thus less interested in teaching about the chronology of events. While the authors commend her for this strategy they also warn against the dangers of representing all historical and present-day events as “suffering” from the need for change.

Chapter seven is dedicated to presenting detailed and specific implications of these findings for curriculum development and instruction. The authors end with the recognition that their results are debatable and thus with the recommendation that teachers be reflective in their practice and seek answers to their doubts and questions in published research on history teaching and learning.