In this article, the author shares her experience working with preservice teachers in a hands-on museum exhibit. The preservice teachers' responses suggest that the experience of working in a hands-on museum exhibit can be a valuable part of an elementary social studies methods course. Adequately preparing elementary social studies methods students to teach for historical understanding is a necessary and important endeavor. One aspect of that preparation is identifying and experiencing the artifacts and sources that are essential to such a process. The time at the museum was the author's attempt to help the preservice teachers learn to teach history in a hands-on way in their own classrooms.

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