In this article, the authors investigate the extent to which 9 elementary social studies methods textbooks present the purpose of teaching and learning social studies. Using Stanley's three perspectives of teaching social studies for knowledge transmission, method of intelligence, and social transformation; we analyze how these texts prepare preservice teachers to plan, instruct, and assess social studies in the elementary grades. Findings from this study suggest that social studies methods textbooks hold divergent perspectives for teaching social studies and that the purposes presented in the texts generally determine how social studies teaching and learning is presented in the remainder of the texts.